Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Voice From the Streets and Beyond Jean-Michel Basquiat, a name synonymous with raw energy, social commentary, and an explosive collision of art forms, emerged from the vibrant, chaotic underbelly of 1970s New York City. Born in Brooklyn in 1960 to Haitian and Puerto Rican parents, his early life was marked by movement – first drifting between boroughs, then ultimately leaving home at sixteen to carve out a prec…