British, Cockney Slang-Inspired Illustrations by Graffiti Artist 45RPM

Australian filmmaker Selina Miles turns her attention to street artist 45RPM in this short film chronicling the Bristol-based tagger’s obsession with the very British phenomenon of Cockney rhyming slang. The linguistic technique of obscuring true meaning by using a complex and lighthearted array of rhyming words has passed indelibly into the fabric of UK culture and is the subject of and inspiration for much of 45RPM’s works. “My morning coffee tends to be looking up some sort of bit of slang from somewhere and drawing it” he explains, “my Grandad was just spouting out absolute gems all the time.” Check out the video above to get a beginner’s guide to this peculiarity of modern language and check out more of Selina Miles’ work here.