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In the video for Brother Ali’s “Take Me Home,” a suited Ali and his DJ, BK-One, walk past brilliantly multi-colored graffiti. John Grider’s Billygoat peers out from behind them while hues of kids skateboard, skip rope, and play basketball. This brief clip takes place in front of the old Riverside Market, soon to be replaced by the new Seward Co-op. The momentary harmony of the scene in Ali’s video—where business suits, neighborhood children and parents, and graffiti all co-exist peacefully—actually masks one of the more fraught chapters in the history of Twin Cities’ public art, as well as the history of Twin Cities graffiti, both in its quality and its consequences. MORE »