Bombin’ – 1987 Documentary About British Graffiti and Hip-Hop

A blast from the past! I found this old school documentary will clicking around on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it do it now!

First broadcast in 1987 on the UK’s Channel 4, Bombin’ was directed by documentary filmmaker Dick Fontaine and was a sequel to his earlier 1984 documentary “Beat This!”, once again taking a look at how American hip-hop culture was making its way over the pond to the UK, this time using the lens of the graffiti and tagging subcultures.

The documentary offers a fascinating look at 1980’s UK hip-hop and graffiti culture and specifically for Massive Attack fans, 3D during one segment is also featured tagging alongside future Drum n’ Bass/Jungle musician Goldie in Birmingham. The two had already at this point setup the Trans-Atlantic Federation, a collective of UK/US based graffiti artists.

Perhaps the most interesting element of the Bombin’ documentary, is when we see some of the British establishment’s dismissal and even disdain to the tagging ethos and how that further alludes to the social implications of ethnicity and poverty, and their relationship with the hip-hop culture before it became widely accepted.

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