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..

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Permalink Reply by Ashaki Johnson on January 7, 2012 at 10:43pm

Thank you so much for your post. It's great to see that I'm not the only square peg in this city.

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Permalink Reply by X-D-D-M*9 on January 8, 2012 at 9:50pm

As CE said, the most beneficial move I made was coming down to Atlanta from Philly in the late '80's with an open mind. When people saw that I respected Southern people and their different culture, they revealed the rich greatness the Black South has to offer.

A big problem I was told constantly was all y'all New York niggaz (meaning: everybody north of DC) coming down here treating us (Atlantans, southern folks) like we ain't nuthin' and the North is all that. Well if it's all that, why don't you go back there?

I'm from an older demo an era. And I can proudly say that Atlanta had one of the most progressive and alternative Black subcultures back in the late 80's that developed in the early '90's that I saw no where else in the country. There were events like the Rocklockdown that featured groups like Follow For Now, Mobius Trip, Joi and many others who influenced the whole ATL music scene from Outkast & Goodie MOB with Ceelo Green, ask them about it.

There was pioneering group called KIN (Knowledge In The Name) that was the brainchild of pre-AfroPunkRocker CX Kidtronik and was the foundation for artistic provocatuer Saul Williams as he was an early member of the group. Martin Luther was also part of this alt-soul scene. All this jumped off from '90'-'94 and everywhere you'd go you'd see folks across ATL, white/Asian/Latino/Black expressing themselves moshing at shows with punk rock and Hip Hop styles altogether. This was a major influence on the progression of Outkast and Andre 3000 & Ceelo taking their music down a deeper path. Groups like Mass Influence & Y'all So Stupid broke ground on combining the skate, rock & Hip Hop cultures all together back in the early 90's.

The FunkJazz Kafe was a sanctuary for all the diverse, mainly Black cultures of Atlanta. It was a monthly event that featured the best of local and international talent. Erykah Badu, Loose Ends, Omar, Dungeon Family, Public Enemy, Van Hunt and all the above artists and waaay beyond would perform and/or attend FJK.

This should give you an idea of what was going on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u_QKXAn-gE

That is merely a small taste of the artist & cultural oasis I experienced while living in Atlanta. Best time of my life and some the most progressive & original people I met in down in ATL; true born & raised Atlantans/ATLiens and "immigrants" like me who settled down there.

I can't fully speak for now. I travel down to ATL and always have a great time at DJ Kemet's parties and I still love riding MARTA through Little 5 Points to Southwest (where I lived off Cascade) to College Park. I think many of this younger generation don't realize how great things are today because of the great moves of the past. Also I think the problem is that the whole popular culture today is diluted with weaker versions of what's real. But that ain't new and the real is still out there.

If you were ahead of the curb on some styles, pat yourself on the back and move on. Who cares if folks jump on late? That's how it always happens and pioneers learn to progress & move on. Wherever you are, find what's important to you and celebrate that originality. From ATL to Atlantis, there will be the truth and clones being born. Stop complaining wherever you are and just do you.

Compound Egret said:

People run the gamut. Making sweeping generalizations about large groups of people because of their geographic region, the music they listen to, etc, really just holds you back in the long term. You may miss out on interacting with some cool people because y'all don't like all the same things, and when you get to the "promised land" of your chosen subculture you will disappointed by the authentic humanity of the residents. They have idiots there too.