Is there any way to stop the MTV'isation of modern graff culture? Has this already happened? Can writers make a euro off their talents without being paraded as examples of soulless sell-outs? Or is this illegal sub/counter/fuck-you culture uncorruptable by its very nature? Does anyone really give a prancing shit anyway?
Well yes, many people give a prancing shit, even two prancing shits in fact, about graffiti itself. But there's a new aspect to the scene that a lot of us would like to scrap completely (if not on the payroll). Spray paint canning/graff tag bombing has become Super Kool for the kidz. Hense, it has become Super Lucrative for the profiteers of current, 'edgy' youth culture. Marketers of every brand from Playstation to Red Bull are latching on to something kids seem to respect, and will rape it until its a useless, has-been corpse.
As writers trying to portray a pure and uncorrupted reverance for the original spirit of this scene, many of us shoot pitiful glances and spiteful mutterings in the direction of those other writers being used to help sell products to these kids. But little or none of us would refuse these same commissions, or give anything less than a 'fair play' to friends who make a buck from the man. Do we even know what the fuck we really think about anything anymore? Commercialisation of any youth culture is, of course, inevitable. Products are no longer products, they are brands and images. You don't buy a pair of Adidas anymore, you buy a fucking lifestyle declaration. Our beloved graffiti is only the current victim/benefactor in their infinite search for the current school of cool. So, inevitable as it is, who can really give the money making writer shit with a straight face anymore? 
Well, there are levels in this game of selling out. Gallery exhibitions are usually seen as fair game, as are commissioned walls, whereas helping a corporation in their current shallow advertising blitz is seen as dirtier territory, and large profit making marketing of any kind, even more so. And even these levels have their exceptions: a certain elite class of writer (Twist, Rime, Revok, etc) can sell tagged feces to starving african children for 2 limbs a pop and not provoke a single eyelid bat, whereas the lowest class of 'writer' can do fundraising commisions for the same children and get pelted with universal abuse and empty plasticote cans.
It's all about DUES, and how much DUES a writer is seen to have paid. The MSK's and XTC's of this world have put in enough decades of blood sweat and chrome, and helped the global scene enough to put them in a class of unquestionable dedication and 'realness'. But nobody (NOBODY) appreciates some coffee addicted, dread locked, eyebrow plucking cunt selling himself as a true 'Graffer' to make a few quid while this 'tagging shit' is still hot. If money is out there for writers, those deserving should get it. Like it or not, graffiti is a game of realness, and credentials for this realness are paid for with years of ACTUAL graffiti. The 'I'm realer than you' nature that graffiti has adopted is due to the crowds of hijacking trend hoppers that glue themselves to the image of the writer without a single street throw up or any understanding or respect for what graffiti is actually about (the giant secret/mystery).
The mainstream also gives birth to hundreds upon thousands of these people. Some too young to know what they're really getting into, some simply doing what all their mates are doing, and others latching on to graff's 'urban edgyness' while urban edgyness is still what people dig. This dilutes and undermines the actual writer and the true spirit of the thing. Can you still truly call something exciting and counter-cultural when every second twelve year old is a member of a bebo 'tagging club' and has completed a graffiti computer game a dozen times over? Plus, the constant pounding that graffiti and graffiti writers get by politians and 'decent' society seems all the more bitter when every second company is using graff to sell and promote products to that very same society. The true, hardened, criminally recorded graffiti writer's cynicism is not unjust. But, of course, these writer's cannot complain about the scene going mainstream one day, and take part in an advertising campaign the next.
Every writer who has been doing this for more than a few years can recall a time when graffiti seemed mysterious. Its heroes were invisible and its activities underground and almost clandestine. But is this just the effect of innocence, or something more concrete? Certainly, graff ain't what it was. But I doubt any writer ever born hasn't thought that five or so years after starting. Things change. But rest assured graff will not end up on the shelf of dead trends. Reason: (real) graffiti is illegal, and something illegal can never be robbed of its edge or its potency. The fakes will drop off after an encounter or six with a cop. The politicians preaching about 'mindless vandals' and 'scourges on society' will insure that it will never become universally accepted or dull. The enemies of graffiti will continue to empower it. You can't sell a throwup on a train or an etch tag on a shop window. The true bomber is not usually interested in portraying images, he is interested in ups, and he is most probably a chronically depressed sociopath too fucked up to appeal to any demographic. And thank fuck for that. Graff will go out of fashion and something will replace it, and bombers will bomb, regardless.
I've asked lots of questions here and given few answers. But maybe some of you know what the fuck I'm on about, even if I don't.
I need a smoke.
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