James Jessop

This interview with James Jessop traces his early immersion in hip-hop culture and how it shaped his life, creativity and career as an artist. Growing up in Leighton Buzzard in the mid-1980s, he first encountered hip-hop around 1985 at age eleven, inspired by early electro music, breakdancing on television, and seeing dancers and boombox culture in public spaces. Fascinated, he began searching for “breakdance music” in local record shops and became deeply involved in learning the culture through tapes such as the Electro compilations, which introduced him to beatboxing, rap and DJ mixing.

Jessop’s first point of entry was breakdancing. He practised obsessively at home, treating it as something anyone could learn without needing to join a team. From there, his interest expanded into beatboxing and graffiti, which he discovered through friends and films that showed painted backdrops and street art. By the late 1980s he was sketching graffiti styles on paper, carrying markers everywhere, and exploring Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes looking for tags and spaces to paint. Graffiti quickly became central to his identity, acting as a way of claiming space and expressing belonging within hip-hop culture.

He describes the development of a local graffiti scene around a disused building near Leighton Buzzard station that became an unofficial “Hall of Fame.” Early on he worked alongside older, more experienced writers, gradually building confidence before painting his own pieces. By his mid-teens he was creating larger works and developing a distinctive lettering style. Trips to Milton Keynes exposed him to new artists and underpass spaces that encouraged experimentation, although the scene was small and sometimes competitive.

In 1991 he created a large “End Racism” graffiti piece in response to racist imagery he had seen and personal experiences of prejudice, reflecting his belief that hip-hop could challenge social divisions and reclaim public space. The following year he appeared briefly on BBC2’s Dance Energy while skateboarding, which gave him a sense of recognition and reinforced his commitment to creative work.

Jessop later pursued formal art education, completing a BTEC, a Fine Art degree at Coventry, and eventually an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art. His early fascination with graffiti led to an international career exhibiting work and collaborating with figures connected to the influential book Subway Art. Despite global success, he still sees his roots in 1980s hip-hop as foundational, describing it as an outlet for energy, a source of community, and a lifelong creative force that continues to shape his work and identity.