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RAMMELLZEE, Graffiti Pioneer And Hip-Hop Artist, Dead
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The man who pioneered graffiti art in the early 1970s, RAMMELLZEE, died Tuesday at age 50. He spent his last days in Far Rockaway, Queens -- the same neighborhood where he got his start painting subway cars.
Graffiti is a key element in hip-hop culture, and RAMMELLZEE made waves in both art forms. His oblique freestyling and rhymes were a testament to his abstract subway murals and graffiti .
The wild, street-art stalwart never stopped producing work throughout his life. On top of graffiti sculptures, performance art, and transformer-esque, futuristic masks, costumes, and models, RAMMELLZEE developed the doctrine of "Gothic Futurism" which guided his creative endeavors.
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