Which artist started as a graffiti writer under the tag 'SAMO'?

Jean-Michel Basquiat started as a graffiti writer under the tag SAMO.

Basquiat developed SAMO with fellow artist Al Diaz in New York during the late 1970s. The tag appeared with short, poetic, and satirical phrases sprayed across buildings in Lower Manhattan, particularly around SoHo and other downtown art districts.

SAMO was not simply Basquiat’s solo pseudonym at first: it began as a collaboration between Basquiat and Diaz. The name is commonly explained as a shortened form of “Same Old,” which came from a private joke about “the same old crap.” Basquiat later became the figure most strongly associated with the tag.

After Basquiat and Diaz ended their collaboration, Basquiat marked the transition by writing “SAMO IS DEAD” around downtown New York in 1980. He soon concentrated increasingly on painting, carrying the language, symbols, and social criticism of his graffiti into canvases that made him a major figure in contemporary art.