Rammellzee, an early graffiti writer, hip-hop pioneer and performance artist whose style influenced the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill, died Sunday in Far Rockaway, Queens, where he was raised. He lived in Battery Park City in Manhattan.

He was 49 and died after a long illness, said his wife, Carmela Zagari Rammellzee.

He became known in graffiti circles in the late 1970s and early 1980s for hitting the A train and other subway lines around Queens with his spiky-lettered work. He ap...