Baby Baby - Haters
... the other Black experience
DOES ATLANTA LIVE UP TO THE HYPE???
The people in Atlanta never seem to travel to far from the stereotypes.The seem to stay in their roles of what is considered the appropriate way of acting, dressing, and being "black." Many people in the south, especially African Americans in the south will not try something new until whatever it is becomes a popular trend, popularized by an hip hop artist, and then approved by hip hop culture.
I think back during the times of baggy jeans, and long white tees. My true
ATLiens, will remeber the popular song by Dem Franchise Boyz "White Tee," a song popularizing the trend of wearing big, long, tall white tees. This trend went on for a very long time. As average as it may seem to wear just plain white shirts, thats what we were doing in the south. However hip hop culture in the 90's everywhere, was very into baggy clothing until maybe 2000, artist like Kanye West change the mold. Hip hop culture started accepting preppy clothing. Kanye says, "Raulph Lauren was borin until I wore him." Which has remained true. However, the South is always late. Since the beginning of time, the south has been the last area to catch on to the trends. Remeber Industrialization... lol.. But thats another topic of discussion.
However my point is, in many other parts of the country, black communities have been breaking boundaries, stepping outside of stereotypes, and becoming involved in activities that aren't neccessarily part of black/hip hop culture, while the South has been lagging behind. Theres a big Afro-Punk Scene, Blipster (Black Hipster) scene, and Black skaters are popping up all over the place. This has been going for a very long time, YEARS!!!! Especially in areas like California, and some northern areas. But the South only recently decided that it was okay to look like a rockstar or dress like a skater, with Lil Wayn'es acceptance of Rock culture.
Since Lil Wayne has entered the scene many people in the South have grown dreads, bought guitars, got lip piercings, where skinny jeans, and put on the front of "Party like a rockstar" under the guise of the new trend called, "White Boy/Black Boy Swag."
Although I am happy to see the South catching up with the latest Fashion trends, it is JUST that! A FASHION TREND! Many of the people who have grown mohawks, where skinny jeans, vans, and other things attributed to punk fashion have not changed their mentality. It has been made apparent in the South that it is okay to change your style a dress punk, hipster, or like a skater, but its still not okay to act like them. So in other words, they may look like a duck, but they still bark, and play like a dog. They haven't embrace the different cultures or the different music, they have olnly embraced the style. However, they don't embrace the style to the full extent, Gauged ears in the South is still very uncommon, especially in the black community. They where the attire, but they have not accepted the piercings. That part seems alittle extreme. And when embracing these different style the still manage to not step to far outside of the box, by keeping their grills, and sagging the skinny jeans below their asses.
When I travel other places, theres so much diversity in the black community. You have white kids hanging with black kids, and black kids hanging with white kids. Black people can show interest in things outside of hip hop culture, without being ostracized for being different or being outcasted. But the South has remain the South. If you step to far out the box, you are considered strange, different, abnormal or a poser.
I was born in Atlanta and believe that it is is a great place to live and it offers many options, of places to go and things to do.However we must acknowledge that Georgia is still a very racist state, where interracial couples, are looked at with disgust. Race isn't a issue of the past. Therefore there is still alot of intolerance, and not too much room to step outside what is consider appropriate for somene "black" to say or do.
Atlanta is ranked as the gayest city in America! So I must have a greater chance then most to meet the girl of my dreams. So why do I still feel like my options for finding some like me who is apart of the homosexual community are so limited? Am I just not looking or do they really not exist.
I want to hear everyone's opinions. Prove me wrong..
I think back during the times of baggy jeans, and long white tees. My true
ATLiens, will remeber the popular song by Dem Franchise Boyz "White Tee," a song popularizing the trend of wearing big, long, tall white tees. This trend went on for a very long time. As average as it may seem to wear just plain white shirts, thats what we were doing in the south. However hip hop culture in the 90's everywhere, was very into baggy clothing until maybe 2000, artist like Kanye West change the mold. Hip hop culture started accepting preppy clothing. Kanye says, "Raulph Lauren was borin until I wore him." Which has remained true. However, the South is always late. Since the beginning of time, the south has been the last area to catch on to the trends. Remeber Industrialization... lol.. But thats another topic of discussion.
However my point is, in many other parts of the country, black communities have been breaking boundaries, stepping outside of stereotypes, and becoming involved in activities that aren't neccessarily part of black/hip hop culture, while the South has been lagging behind. Theres a big Afro-Punk Scene, Blipster (Black Hipster) scene, and Black skaters are popping up all over the place. This has been going for a very long time, YEARS!!!! Especially in areas like California, and some northern areas. But the South only recently decided that it was okay to look like a rockstar or dress like a skater, with Lil Wayn'es acceptance of Rock culture.
Since Lil Wayne has entered the scene many people in the South have grown dreads, bought guitars, got lip piercings, where skinny jeans, and put on the front of "Party like a rockstar" under the guise of the new trend called, "White Boy/Black Boy Swag."
Although I am happy to see the South catching up with the latest Fashion trends, it is JUST that! A FASHION TREND! Many of the people who have grown mohawks, where skinny jeans, vans, and other things attributed to punk fashion have not changed their mentality. It has been made apparent in the South that it is okay to change your style a dress punk, hipster, or like a skater, but its still not okay to act like them. So in other words, they may look like a duck, but they still bark, and play like a dog. They haven't embrace the different cultures or the different music, they have olnly embraced the style. However, they don't embrace the style to the full extent, Gauged ears in the South is still very uncommon, especially in the black community. They where the attire, but they have not accepted the piercings. That part seems alittle extreme. And when embracing these different style the still manage to not step to far outside of the box, by keeping their grills, and sagging the skinny jeans below their asses.
When I travel other places, theres so much diversity in the black community. You have white kids hanging with black kids, and black kids hanging with white kids. Black people can show interest in things outside of hip hop culture, without being ostracized for being different or being outcasted. But the South has remain the South. If you step to far out the box, you are considered strange, different, abnormal or a poser.
I was born in Atlanta and believe that it is is a great place to live and it offers many options, of places to go and things to do.However we must acknowledge that Georgia is still a very racist state, where interracial couples, are looked at with disgust. Race isn't a issue of the past. Therefore there is still alot of intolerance, and not too much room to step outside what is consider appropriate for somene "black" to say or do.
Atlanta is ranked as the gayest city in America! So I must have a greater chance then most to meet the girl of my dreams. So why do I still feel like my options for finding some like me who is apart of the homosexual community are so limited? Am I just not looking or do they really not exist.
I want to hear everyone's opinions. Prove me wrong..
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sigh Sidhe on -
that really doesn't sound too different than the Bay Area (CA) in some ways..
like i started goin punk/goth around '99 when i was like 13.. and that was a BIG no-no..
spikes, chains and green hair were really not okay for
but in '06/'07 suddenly hella hyphy girls were askin where i got my stuff and they would get hella mad if i said i made it myself..
i would later come to find out that "the punk-rock look" had been adopted.......... fml
~gauges are still really exclusive to the alt community out here.. but the monroe has been embraced pretty hardcore by the black non-rocker girls..
so yea.. the "they may look like a duck, but they still bark, and play like a dog" attitude is the same (at least in my experience), we're just a few years ahead i guess..
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Permalink Reply by Madamoiselle De Sade on -
Atlanta is, outside of DC/Maryland is the conservative/norm negro capital of the world.
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Permalink Reply by JICA on -
oh yeah, as a atlien I can tell you myself evrything you said was dead on. now boys in class argue about who's wearing real polo ralph lauren, gucci, versace, what happened baby phat, ecco red, and rocawear??? when the music changed they changed, but their is no real originality in Atl. they are all too scared or just too boring to step out of the box and try something new. thats why people like kanye and lil wayne can make so much money off of them. i have been wearing polo since forever, but only because i had to sop in the petite ladies section in macy cuz i ws too short and thick for the other stuff, plus my aunt wouldn't let me wear the cheap fabric that comes with the popular clothes like baby phat. i actually used to wish i could wear all that stuff. now people are dressing like me! ATL is a trip. Finding an original here is like trying to find a needle in haystack.....
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Permalink Reply by Fashionfreak on -
thankfully i live in new york city and this is one place where fashion is constantly changing though there will always be a small group of people who refuse to let go of their ways. maybe y'all need to come up here haha !
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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on -
iunno i liked the area around the five points (if that is where there's a black-owned health food grocery)... in ATL.
nyc is diverse because of all the different black ethnicities and scenes. O.o truly mindblowing !
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Permalink Reply by Ghettopunkrocker on -
I knew that about Atlanta years ago until I was dragged there in like February 2009 on business. I ALREADY KNEW THAT! Okay, I'm from the D.C./Maryland area and I don't see how it's that conservative really.
Mlle d. Sade said:Atlanta is, outside of DC/Maryland is the conservative/norm negro capital of the world.
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Permalink Reply by CocoaPuss Zine on -
i always thought that atlanta was like "black people's heaven" and was looking forward to going there when i died, mostly because i'm from tacoma/seattle and have never seen more than 10 black people anywhere at one time in my entire life. now i have my doubts about it... oh well. one thing about atlanta though is that everyone is so damn happy to be from there.
i think they do have a few original people there, like outkast and the lesser known group, proton, there could be more, if you look hard enough...
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Permalink Reply by Madamoiselle De Sade on
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It's worse in Atlanta because it's in the "deep" south (they like to think). Black debutant balls make me want to pull a Marx Bros. and run off with the campaign. Maybe you get to see all the good parts for "alternative" people and don't see the conservative negro complex.
Or funeral box negroes as they are sometimes called. By me.
Ghettopunkrocker said:I knew that about Atlanta years ago until I was dragged there in like February 2009 on business. I ALREADY KNEW THAT! Okay, I'm from the D.C./Maryland area and I don't see how it's that conservative really. Mlle d. Sade said:Atlanta is, outside of DC/Maryland is the conservative/norm negro capital of the world.
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on -
… I suppose there could be a number of hypes one could address about Atlanta, but I’ve never been there myself. I’ve been told (mostly by folk who’ve set off to live there, and some who had returned) that the city’s prosperous boom(s) earned it a certain status as a potential home of the next “Black Wall Street”. Would've been like "BETville." I’ve heard that the male/female ratio was tilted in the favor of males, so I dunno – perhaps that affects the likelihood of finding the mate you want as well (especially for females? I could see a Catch-22 on either side of sexual orientation).
I’m accustomed to people speaking of it like a new Mecca, for numerous reasons*. Girl who used to sit next to me at work told me she was “inspired” by a Tyler Perry movie to move to ATL and seek a man and build a career. Dunno why she ended back up here in Louisiana, but it pained her to be here. Former friend of mine was supposed to have a major life-change and head out to Atlanta to find himself amongst his brethren. Heard he was back too, for some reason, and he’s still a male.
I think the housing slump (obviously) changed some things, and people who finally ventured out there had their dreams crushed firmly on the ground upon arrival. Some people gave me the impression that they moved out there for a better job, but failed to factor in cost-of-living adjustments, and wound up right back where they started.
I do think some folk may have been overjoyed at the thought of a southern city that could potentially rival some of the other other oft-named spot sin the North (ppl being romantic?).
The South is not the last place to pick up on trends that originate in the South. But even if you ask a Southerner, some people are inclined to say that being in a southern state is some kind of sin...
Mob mentality does what it will. Depending on where a certain trend begins, certain regions may or may not be on the fringes (of concentric circles). If it's causing guitar sales to go up, I think that's peachy... some people might actually bother to learn to play theirs... I’ve been planning to purchase a guitar for years. I now know that when I do buy one, the little beady-eyed purist behind the counter will fail me on my litmus test. I won't bother to refute his judgment, either; he can assume I'm one of those late-to-the-party kids, and I'll play along...
Culture ain't static.
….
(*Living in Baton Rouge, I normally hear any of the following things from self-declared “outsiders” who always talk about what they do “back home” and native residents who want to broaden their perspective in life:
“I wish I was from somewhere interesting, like New York.”
“I wish I was from somewhere interesting, like New Orleans” – which is about an hour away…
“I wanna move to ATL … ain’t nothing out here.”)
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Permalink Reply by Madamoiselle De Sade on
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"The South is not the last place to pick up on trends that originate in the South. But even if you ask a Southerner, some people are inclined to say that being in a southern state is some kind of sin..."
...But isn't it? I mean, there's nothing out here.
I wish I was from some place interesting like.. . ..New York.
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on
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Sonic Speed Society said:I'm never going back, the south is a smelly over vegetated dead zone. Ain't nothing out there
lmao, really?
The whole thing smells?
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on
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Mlle d. Sade said:"The South is not the last place to pick up on trends that originate in the South. But even if you ask a Southerner, some people are inclined to say that being in a southern state is some kind of sin..."
...But isn't it? I mean, there's nothing out here.
I wish I was from some place interesting like.. . ..New York.
I thought, and thought, and thought.
I got nothing for ya.
-- But -- I'm trying to be fair and give the benefit of the doubt. Anywhere where there are populations of people, there's a culture of some kind. May not be the one you want or are interested in, necessarily (Mardi Gras is a big deal down here, although personally I'm neither Catholic nor interested), but there's always going to be an accumulation of ideas and ways of living that amount to something specific to an environment.
Not trying to be pedantic ('cause again -- I've no answer to your question), but surely the local "culture" isn't uniformly the same between Florida and Texas...
Don't think I'm built for New York. Never been there, so I can't say that with certainty, but ... I'm not a fan of crowds, crowded populations, crowded dwellings, and the like. There's things I'd love to see and do there, but ... wouldn't live there for anything in the world (too tourist-friendly? I donno)...
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