It was a revolutionary decade that saw the rise of Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of prominent political figures, and the Vietnam War.

During this period, D.C. was experiencing race riots in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, heightened racial tensions and white flight, and blacks from southern and northern states relocating to D.C. in search of better economic opportunities during the Great Migration.

By the 1980s, Disco Dan had perfected his graffiti art skills just as the popularity of go-go music and harDCore was heightening throughout the city.

tapes and live album recordings), Disco Dan began immortalizing himself by tagging his nickname on Metro buses and rails, vacant building, and throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

At the height of his fame, go-go was also reaching the height of its fame, and the energy levels around the city had reached a fevering peak with the rise of local sports teams—the Washington Bullets, the Big East Conference and the Georgetown Hoyas (John Thompson, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning), Maryland Terrapins (Lefty Driesell and Len Bias), Sugar Ray Leonard, and the Washington Redskins (Doug Williams)—and the peak of the local politicians Marion Barry and Sharon Pratt Kelly, along with the crack epidemic and illegal drug trade, AIDS epidemic, materialism, hip-hop music, elevated murder rates, Reaganomics, homelessness, George H. W. Bush's War on Drugs, and the ubiquity of Cool "Disco Dan" graffiti all peaked simultaneously during this time period.