RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ (Rammellzee) has been a revolutionary New York City artist whose practice fused graffiti, hip-hop, sculpture, performance, and radical philosophy. Born in Far Rockaway, Queens, in 1960, he rose from the 1970s graffiti underground to become a defining force at the intersection of street culture and avant-garde art.
A true original, Rammellzee developed Gothic Futurism—a theory that reimagined language and lettering as weapons of resistance against social control. This evolved into Ikonoklast Panzerism, a personal mythology blending science fiction, linguistics, and urban iconography, embodied through his sculptural “armors” and immersive performances.
His legendary 1983 track Beat Bop, produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat, became an underground classic and cemented his influence on generations of artists and musicians alike.
Though largely overlooked by the mainstream during his lifetime, Rammellzee’s visionary legacy has since been recognized through major exhibitions at MoMA, Red Bull Arts New York, and Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, and honored in a Rizzoli monograph. Figures like Virgil Abloh have celebrated his enduring cultural impact, helping cement his status as a prophetic voice in contemporary art.
