Certainly you remember the game Tag! One person is “it” and runs around and tries to tag another, who then becomes “it,” and so on. It’s a great game and seeds right up there with Duck Duck Goose, Hide and Seek, and Red Rover Red Rover (send Jimmy right over). Pure Americana fun. But much as I would love to reminisce about the fun and games we all had growing up, I want to address a different definition of the word tag.
From what I can tell, "tag" and "graffiti" are mostly synonymous. Yet "graffiti," for whatever reason, seems to have found a distinct alignment with the hip-hop genre (per Urban Dictionary), becoming one component of the total “attitude package” that is required to be gangsta. "Tagging" on the other hand seems to have no real cultural alliances. It is more a signature than an overarching expression and can be done, for instance, by someone listening to Sting through their Beats by Dre headphones.
Regardless, right after the rains, my young son and I went for a hike down in the Santa Ynez river corridor and ended up at the 101 overpass. “Dad, look, it’s graffiti!” Sure enough, I say, it’s … something like that. We walk around and check it out, critiquing its artistic relevance, discussing what it all means, and then he asks me if it’s legal. I quickly change the subject back to the river at hand and on with our hike.