With most of his notable work coming in the 1970s, PHASE 2 is credited with originating the bubble letters of graffiti, also know as "softies." This style caught on quick, with other artists duplicating the style with their own variations. After realizing his style was being copied by so any, PHASE started adding different symbols, like stars and arrows, to continue to make his tags stand-out. He continued to make his pieces more complex and really formed the template for the graffiti style at the time.

PHASE's work would eventually lead to the modern style of writing called "wildstyle" (we will feature the artist that is credited with ushering in wildstyle in a later "Respect Due" post). He was also involved in the music and breakdancing for a while, but never quite reached the status in those fields as he had with graffiti. So, to PHASE 2 for expanding the reach of graffiti, and by extension hip hop, we say...Respect Due. 

Any thoughts on PHASE 2? How do you think hip hop has affected the hip hop culture? Leave all thoughts and opinions below. You can also send any e-mails to straightouttahiphop@gmail.com.

Peace.