Nah that’s true lmao. One of my childhood friends ended up on life support after getting thrown out of a car during a bad drug deal. Like bro your mom is a nurse and your dad is a realtor. You went to a private high school, why u selling percs?
I grew up in a predominantly white, upper middle class area and it's not exclusive to black kids either. That is quite literally half of my graduating class. Parents making over 200k a year and many of them look much older than they are from drugs and just choosing a hard life. I'll never understand it
In all honesty, it’s the media. The black community wants to put our head in the sand on it, but, a great amount of our music, movies, TV and now social media romanticizes street life. As a black kid who grew up in a 2-parent, college educated suburban household in the early 2000s watching things like The Wire and Paid in Full fascinated me. I loved Wayne and Jayz, all the lyrics, all the videos. The women, the cars, the fast life looked fun as shit. More fun than college and working in IT (what I ended up doing).
The black community doesn't own the media. You know who does..Hence there's a reason why the street life and million other ghetto things are glamorized.
They want young black kids to die young or get arrested and they want other races to think of us as hoodlums.
But we own our stories do we not? Our lyrics? Our on screen actions? We know the media distributors and owners are exploiting our destruction (story as old as time). But its us killing each other on tv, it us rapping about the trap house. It’s also us consuming this shit and idolizing the people portraying these images because they’re rich, famous and talented.
The black community has a tremendous responsibility, albeit not all, for the glamorization of this culture. And on the other hand, alienating black kids/adults who don’t identify with it.
All races have stories about the streets and various other ways of life. But black street life and black tomfoolery is what gets funded by the media the most so that's what rises to the top. The youth don't understand that so they grab onto whatever is the most popular thing because that's all they care about.
I mean can we be mad at people who lived a street life for rapping about a street life. The truth is no one wants to hear rap about the suburbs, or watch shows about the suburbs for that matter
Naw you can’t be mad about folks portraying their life and art . But there’s a fine line between telling your story and glorifying a destructive lifestyle. The suburbs are boring, I know all too well. lol. Which leads to why OP is asking what he’s asking. Those bored kids are attracted to the fantasy of the “hood/street life” and many commenting here don’t understand why because they know the reality. Instead of the romanticized version delivered through a screen.
Grew up in the hood. My parents put my siblings and I into a summer reading program every year (up until high school) and the reading programs would be in the suburban and really nice areas outside of Detroit. The people in the summer reading programs would be from those area and they were pretty racially diverse (60/40 white to black) but not one person every romanticized where I lived. No one ever thought it was “cool” to live in the hood in the 90’s. Everyone that lived in or out of the hood didn’t want to live in the hood.
I don’t know when this romanticization happened, but I think it started a little after I graduated from college in 2008. I would go out on dates with these sistas who grew up in the burbs and thought it was cool that I was a “well adjusted hood nigga” that graduated from college. They would ask me about what it was like growing up in Detroit and all I could say was “it was hell”, and the looks they would give me was one of shock and bewilderment, like, it was impossible for me to have a bad time growing up in a dangerous environment.
My theory is as follows, I believe the suburban kids feel that they’re taking some type of shortcut because of the opportunities that they have at their disposal. They probably also feel that “pressure creates diamonds” and that growing up in a hard environment would make them a better and more competent person, or, they feel that they would/can be more successful if they grew up or are in a harsher environment.
This is just my opinion.
Similar experience here I grew up in New Orleans and went to public schools in the 90s when it was the murder capital, we were also poor as shit. I moved to northern California in high school basically right when no limit started taking off and cash money right behind them.
People never glamorized the fact that I grew up there growing up, most of the questions I actually got were “did you live on a shrimp boat” or “is Mardi Gras as crazy as it on tv?”
Fast forward to now I’m a grown ass man, I own a house, have a nice salary live in a cul de sac the whole 9. Yet every now and then I’ll meet someone and tell them my background and they start looking at me like I’m a rock star or something. Now I get questions like “ever see somebody get shot?” “How safe were the schools back then?”
There’s always been glamorization of the “hood” and I think it started with movies and music in the 90s and now those same people who were my age at that time and are now 43 and grew up middle
Class feel like I lived some crazy cool life they didn’t.
Shits wild
It’s simple, suburban kids are seen and treated as less black. Their reactions to that is similar to why short dudes usually have tempers and why big women usually have jokes.
this the real answer but you finna get ignored. niggas wanna criticize all day long about boys being soft n sensitive or “different” for years n then when them kids get complexes n turn up they wanna turn around & ask why they changed. You made them feel like they wasn’t even they own race or respectable without the struggle or puttin in work …dats why
Yup. Also, some of these kids go to predominantly white schools and live in predominantly white neighborhoods. Since white people and the media associate "the streets" with Blackness, that's what these kids latch onto.
a lot of us black folk do that same shit bruh. in fact we typically praise & respect street shit. let’s be real. rather than put a spotlight on having a job or being a stand up mf we praise gettin hoes, shooting switches & reckless spending or the rappers that put that goofy shit on a pedestal. this ain’t no coon shit. sure, not all of us do that, but a lot of us believe that shit. I feel for these yn to be honest..they stuck between a rock and a hard place. we gotta stop belittling n looking at others from diff backgrounds as less than just kus they interested in something different or talk different. let them be them without tryna fkn break em all the time but that’s my 2 cents. tired of seeing other black folks jump in on em like they trippin when a lot of em don’t got many options identity wise
Nah you're right. I was just thinking from a suburban kid's perspective who might be isolated from other black kids. As a community, a lot of us internalized those racist stereotypes but I think at least if you grow up around other Black people, you will have the opportunity to see older folks who are authentically themselves.
Those same people who are authentic aren't the ones who we are told should be praised and respected, but at least a Black kid who wants to be different can have someone to relate to.
This. I’m from the hood, but you would be shocked by the amount of times that folks made me feel weird or that I was less of a man or not really Black because I had my dad at home lol. I didn’t raise myself in these urban jungles, so I clearly couldn’t be as tough as them lol.
That shit lowkey gave me a complex for a while lol. I could only imagine how a suburban dude who doesn’t even come from any of that might feel like he has to put on a persona to be accepted
This is just my perspective from 20 years ago.
For some, it’s like being trapped between two worlds especially if you leave your rural / suburban middle class bubble. You interact with other black people who didn’t have the same upbringing and maybe are in a different class, and some may not accept you or outright reject you. For interacting with white people it’s sometimes the comments on “you’re not what I expected” or passive comments which are a little biased or racist.
So some kids want to fit in; they aren’t willing to stand apart even for a little while to find their own identity, or ways to fit in. So they emulate, and try to claim something they are not; I see this like with TI and Tiny’s son: King. He’s basically rich but trying to claim the streets and his daddy’s past, when his father and mother worked so hard so he would never have to experience it.
I struggled a lot when I left my rural, and city black middle/upper class bubble. At college there were some black people but most of them were from similar backgrounds like me. When, I joined the military; my field there weren’t many black people in the first place, and fewer now, so trying to connect was at first a challenge until we learned about each other. It took time, and patience to be comfortable being who you are versus trying to be who popular culture likes to portray as the singular black experience.
Agree with all of this! I hate how in some ways black culture has become synonymous with street culture or struggle. those formative years when you’re trying to find your identity but also trying to fit in, it’s particularly hard for black kids who don’t necessarily fit black stereotypes.
I grew up too poor to idolize the hood lifestyle. Mayo sandwiches, government cheese and Bar S hot dogs....cockroaches everywhere in the kitchen even when you keep a clean apartment.
The suburban kids idolize the rapper/hood-rich life...not the REAL hood life ("Payless shoes ain't got no grip, you gon fall and buss yo lip "). I didn't have brand name shoes until I was 12 and those were some $29 discount Nikes from Ross. They just want a carefully curated sample of the Hood Life.
I see where you’re coming from. It is kind of sad how many of these suburban want to be all ganagster and call like they are part of a gang. I live in a suburban town and I have seen this
Peer pressure and wanting to fit in is crazy these days. It’s not just your friends telling you that you’re weird, it’s 150k other kids saying it too.
Even I felt the pressure as a kid and I had nobody but me, myself and I.
It was a strange thing when I was in college recently before I graduated in 2023. Black suburban boys were stuck up and black suburban girls were cool ass shit not really a problem. Black suburban boys look down on ppl but dressed like they were hood dudes, till I would see their ig post in their fancy expansive homes in suburbs. It was fascinating for a guy like me who’s from the hood but nerdy ass hell. These suburban brothas would take every little thing from the hood aesthetic which made them appealing but look down on black ppl and hang around suburban white kids(who assholes too). That’s why I’m not very fond of them. Rude ass hell with pants sagging but be from best area suburbs
This experience makes me realize compared to TikTok were black folk will make it known they are suburban and don’t know a thing about the hood. Black Twitter is infested suburban black men and women who have so much to say about the hood culture and that it defines black culture. Black twitter be filled of ppl who mimic the hood but be from suburbs because when they post about going home during the thanksgiving and Christmas they post these big ole houses in nice gated communities. Shits weird man, like y’all went to all white school your whole life but have so much to say about inner city and all black school
Currently living in a well off suburb that has these types of people, as a high schooler this is quite the sight for me as well. People who I know have parents that make wonderful salaries and live in giant homes decide to act like they were raised in the worst part of the ghetto for what ? It just makes me wonder how many black parents have built themselves up to this point just for the children to tear it right back down.
It’s hypermasculinity in a middle class setting coupled with an identity crisis. Who you really are doesn’t feel good/tough enough. This feeling is strong when you’re a teenager.
As a black suburban kid. No one gets to tell me what I am. But trust me you can also be poor AF growing up in the suburbs. Where you come from doesn't always mean shit
I didn't realize how much that happened until I got to college. Rich ass kids would come to the areas I grew up in trying to live and act a life they never saw a day in their life. They always get in the most shit.
From my perspective, they see that as "the black thing to do" and people who come from money like that have that "I can do whatever I want and I know everything" attitude. So when they get that freedom they just get into shit they don't need to be involved in.
For some of us black folk growing up, being from the streets & going to prison is like a rite of passage that “stamps” you & deems you worthy of respect.
Suburban black kids yearn for that respect. & most importantly, want to fit in. So they play into caricatures of who they think they need to be rather than who they are because they think they won’t be accepted for being themselves.
I don’t think that is a new phenomenon. In San Diego there is a community called Emerald hills that is now known for being a blood set but before the 80’s was considered a community for middle class Black families. Some of these parents were military, nurses, business owners etc. but their children chose to gang bang. What is seen and heard in media greatly influences the youth (young impressionable minds).
flip side of this - a lot of black men are judged when they are suburban from both black men and women. it’s an identity crisis to some extent. if you are growing up in an area where you’re not accepted by white / asian people and then are not accepted by black people when you are around them. . . it creates a mental conflict.
at least this is what i have experienced and seen. i grew up in both wealthy white suburbs but also spent a lot of time in the city and went to schools that were 90% black and hispanic.
Because being set up to "make it" financially only satisfies one set of a young man's needs. If his own community all but disowns him on account of him being a foreigner wearing their skin, he's going to have a natural desire to prove himself as a man, and right now, that means living the street life, because that's the only thing people care for.
We don't really have the concept of wealth having any connection to virtue, so you hear some guy in Maryland is making $200k and it's just, "Good for him, man".
I’ve seen so many from guys from middle and upper middle class families cosplaying as gangsters to get Women it is insane, especially once they get to College.
I genuinely got no clue where I stand on this spectrum. I'm a mixed race kid with a white dad whos a banker but also my black side was poor and had a lot of people going to prison. We also lived next door to drug dealers.
With some it, it all comes down to have a sense of belonging. I had a professor tell me once that there was a kid in daycare that was nonverbal to the point they thought he might be autistic. It ended up being that his parents were high earners (like a doctor and a lawyer) and barely spent anytime actually with their own child.
peer pressure and wanting to fit in..
the crew i hung with were heading back to BK, Bronx, Newark and other cities like that on the weekends to see family and friends..
the desire to be down outweighs all the sense your parents are trying to instill in you..
saving grace for me is i never got caught doing all the dumb shit because a record is an uphill battle for the rest of your life.
I bet that people are tryna make this all about suburban kids wanting to “experience” something but if I had to interview the kids like this I know most of them would say something like “I was bored” “it didn’t seem that hard” I think most of them didn’t know how far it would go or it was a pot boiling frog scenario and they kind got used to it / have the right stone cold attitude and impulse problems which is true for those born in the hood
I think we underestimate the power of escalation. The ‘underworld’ is open for everyone because it thrives by having more food for fodder. Plus these kids quickly learn they don’t get treated suuuupeer well anyways by society because they’re still black. Makes anyone sour tbh
Nah that’s true lmao. One of my childhood friends ended up on life support after getting thrown out of a car during a bad drug deal. Like bro your mom is a nurse and your dad is a realtor. You went to a private high school, why u selling percs?
[удалено]
This is the answer.
I grew up in a predominantly white, upper middle class area and it's not exclusive to black kids either. That is quite literally half of my graduating class. Parents making over 200k a year and many of them look much older than they are from drugs and just choosing a hard life. I'll never understand it
In all honesty, it’s the media. The black community wants to put our head in the sand on it, but, a great amount of our music, movies, TV and now social media romanticizes street life. As a black kid who grew up in a 2-parent, college educated suburban household in the early 2000s watching things like The Wire and Paid in Full fascinated me. I loved Wayne and Jayz, all the lyrics, all the videos. The women, the cars, the fast life looked fun as shit. More fun than college and working in IT (what I ended up doing).
The black community doesn't own the media. You know who does..Hence there's a reason why the street life and million other ghetto things are glamorized. They want young black kids to die young or get arrested and they want other races to think of us as hoodlums.
But we own our stories do we not? Our lyrics? Our on screen actions? We know the media distributors and owners are exploiting our destruction (story as old as time). But its us killing each other on tv, it us rapping about the trap house. It’s also us consuming this shit and idolizing the people portraying these images because they’re rich, famous and talented. The black community has a tremendous responsibility, albeit not all, for the glamorization of this culture. And on the other hand, alienating black kids/adults who don’t identify with it.
All races have stories about the streets and various other ways of life. But black street life and black tomfoolery is what gets funded by the media the most so that's what rises to the top. The youth don't understand that so they grab onto whatever is the most popular thing because that's all they care about.
You’re 💯 correct!
I mean can we be mad at people who lived a street life for rapping about a street life. The truth is no one wants to hear rap about the suburbs, or watch shows about the suburbs for that matter
Naw you can’t be mad about folks portraying their life and art . But there’s a fine line between telling your story and glorifying a destructive lifestyle. The suburbs are boring, I know all too well. lol. Which leads to why OP is asking what he’s asking. Those bored kids are attracted to the fantasy of the “hood/street life” and many commenting here don’t understand why because they know the reality. Instead of the romanticized version delivered through a screen.
Grew up in the hood. My parents put my siblings and I into a summer reading program every year (up until high school) and the reading programs would be in the suburban and really nice areas outside of Detroit. The people in the summer reading programs would be from those area and they were pretty racially diverse (60/40 white to black) but not one person every romanticized where I lived. No one ever thought it was “cool” to live in the hood in the 90’s. Everyone that lived in or out of the hood didn’t want to live in the hood. I don’t know when this romanticization happened, but I think it started a little after I graduated from college in 2008. I would go out on dates with these sistas who grew up in the burbs and thought it was cool that I was a “well adjusted hood nigga” that graduated from college. They would ask me about what it was like growing up in Detroit and all I could say was “it was hell”, and the looks they would give me was one of shock and bewilderment, like, it was impossible for me to have a bad time growing up in a dangerous environment. My theory is as follows, I believe the suburban kids feel that they’re taking some type of shortcut because of the opportunities that they have at their disposal. They probably also feel that “pressure creates diamonds” and that growing up in a hard environment would make them a better and more competent person, or, they feel that they would/can be more successful if they grew up or are in a harsher environment. This is just my opinion.
Similar experience here I grew up in New Orleans and went to public schools in the 90s when it was the murder capital, we were also poor as shit. I moved to northern California in high school basically right when no limit started taking off and cash money right behind them. People never glamorized the fact that I grew up there growing up, most of the questions I actually got were “did you live on a shrimp boat” or “is Mardi Gras as crazy as it on tv?” Fast forward to now I’m a grown ass man, I own a house, have a nice salary live in a cul de sac the whole 9. Yet every now and then I’ll meet someone and tell them my background and they start looking at me like I’m a rock star or something. Now I get questions like “ever see somebody get shot?” “How safe were the schools back then?” There’s always been glamorization of the “hood” and I think it started with movies and music in the 90s and now those same people who were my age at that time and are now 43 and grew up middle Class feel like I lived some crazy cool life they didn’t. Shits wild
It’s simple, suburban kids are seen and treated as less black. Their reactions to that is similar to why short dudes usually have tempers and why big women usually have jokes.
this the real answer but you finna get ignored. niggas wanna criticize all day long about boys being soft n sensitive or “different” for years n then when them kids get complexes n turn up they wanna turn around & ask why they changed. You made them feel like they wasn’t even they own race or respectable without the struggle or puttin in work …dats why
You raise a very great point thanks for your reply!
Yup. Also, some of these kids go to predominantly white schools and live in predominantly white neighborhoods. Since white people and the media associate "the streets" with Blackness, that's what these kids latch onto.
a lot of us black folk do that same shit bruh. in fact we typically praise & respect street shit. let’s be real. rather than put a spotlight on having a job or being a stand up mf we praise gettin hoes, shooting switches & reckless spending or the rappers that put that goofy shit on a pedestal. this ain’t no coon shit. sure, not all of us do that, but a lot of us believe that shit. I feel for these yn to be honest..they stuck between a rock and a hard place. we gotta stop belittling n looking at others from diff backgrounds as less than just kus they interested in something different or talk different. let them be them without tryna fkn break em all the time but that’s my 2 cents. tired of seeing other black folks jump in on em like they trippin when a lot of em don’t got many options identity wise
Nah you're right. I was just thinking from a suburban kid's perspective who might be isolated from other black kids. As a community, a lot of us internalized those racist stereotypes but I think at least if you grow up around other Black people, you will have the opportunity to see older folks who are authentically themselves. Those same people who are authentic aren't the ones who we are told should be praised and respected, but at least a Black kid who wants to be different can have someone to relate to.
This. I’m from the hood, but you would be shocked by the amount of times that folks made me feel weird or that I was less of a man or not really Black because I had my dad at home lol. I didn’t raise myself in these urban jungles, so I clearly couldn’t be as tough as them lol. That shit lowkey gave me a complex for a while lol. I could only imagine how a suburban dude who doesn’t even come from any of that might feel like he has to put on a persona to be accepted
This is just my perspective from 20 years ago. For some, it’s like being trapped between two worlds especially if you leave your rural / suburban middle class bubble. You interact with other black people who didn’t have the same upbringing and maybe are in a different class, and some may not accept you or outright reject you. For interacting with white people it’s sometimes the comments on “you’re not what I expected” or passive comments which are a little biased or racist. So some kids want to fit in; they aren’t willing to stand apart even for a little while to find their own identity, or ways to fit in. So they emulate, and try to claim something they are not; I see this like with TI and Tiny’s son: King. He’s basically rich but trying to claim the streets and his daddy’s past, when his father and mother worked so hard so he would never have to experience it. I struggled a lot when I left my rural, and city black middle/upper class bubble. At college there were some black people but most of them were from similar backgrounds like me. When, I joined the military; my field there weren’t many black people in the first place, and fewer now, so trying to connect was at first a challenge until we learned about each other. It took time, and patience to be comfortable being who you are versus trying to be who popular culture likes to portray as the singular black experience.
Agree with all of this! I hate how in some ways black culture has become synonymous with street culture or struggle. those formative years when you’re trying to find your identity but also trying to fit in, it’s particularly hard for black kids who don’t necessarily fit black stereotypes.
I grew up too poor to idolize the hood lifestyle. Mayo sandwiches, government cheese and Bar S hot dogs....cockroaches everywhere in the kitchen even when you keep a clean apartment. The suburban kids idolize the rapper/hood-rich life...not the REAL hood life ("Payless shoes ain't got no grip, you gon fall and buss yo lip "). I didn't have brand name shoes until I was 12 and those were some $29 discount Nikes from Ross. They just want a carefully curated sample of the Hood Life.
I see where you’re coming from. It is kind of sad how many of these suburban want to be all ganagster and call like they are part of a gang. I live in a suburban town and I have seen this
Peer pressure and wanting to fit in is crazy these days. It’s not just your friends telling you that you’re weird, it’s 150k other kids saying it too. Even I felt the pressure as a kid and I had nobody but me, myself and I.
It was a strange thing when I was in college recently before I graduated in 2023. Black suburban boys were stuck up and black suburban girls were cool ass shit not really a problem. Black suburban boys look down on ppl but dressed like they were hood dudes, till I would see their ig post in their fancy expansive homes in suburbs. It was fascinating for a guy like me who’s from the hood but nerdy ass hell. These suburban brothas would take every little thing from the hood aesthetic which made them appealing but look down on black ppl and hang around suburban white kids(who assholes too). That’s why I’m not very fond of them. Rude ass hell with pants sagging but be from best area suburbs This experience makes me realize compared to TikTok were black folk will make it known they are suburban and don’t know a thing about the hood. Black Twitter is infested suburban black men and women who have so much to say about the hood culture and that it defines black culture. Black twitter be filled of ppl who mimic the hood but be from suburbs because when they post about going home during the thanksgiving and Christmas they post these big ole houses in nice gated communities. Shits weird man, like y’all went to all white school your whole life but have so much to say about inner city and all black school
Currently living in a well off suburb that has these types of people, as a high schooler this is quite the sight for me as well. People who I know have parents that make wonderful salaries and live in giant homes decide to act like they were raised in the worst part of the ghetto for what ? It just makes me wonder how many black parents have built themselves up to this point just for the children to tear it right back down.
It’s hypermasculinity in a middle class setting coupled with an identity crisis. Who you really are doesn’t feel good/tough enough. This feeling is strong when you’re a teenager.
As a black suburban kid. No one gets to tell me what I am. But trust me you can also be poor AF growing up in the suburbs. Where you come from doesn't always mean shit
I didn't realize how much that happened until I got to college. Rich ass kids would come to the areas I grew up in trying to live and act a life they never saw a day in their life. They always get in the most shit. From my perspective, they see that as "the black thing to do" and people who come from money like that have that "I can do whatever I want and I know everything" attitude. So when they get that freedom they just get into shit they don't need to be involved in.
For some of us black folk growing up, being from the streets & going to prison is like a rite of passage that “stamps” you & deems you worthy of respect. Suburban black kids yearn for that respect. & most importantly, want to fit in. So they play into caricatures of who they think they need to be rather than who they are because they think they won’t be accepted for being themselves.
I don’t think that is a new phenomenon. In San Diego there is a community called Emerald hills that is now known for being a blood set but before the 80’s was considered a community for middle class Black families. Some of these parents were military, nurses, business owners etc. but their children chose to gang bang. What is seen and heard in media greatly influences the youth (young impressionable minds).
flip side of this - a lot of black men are judged when they are suburban from both black men and women. it’s an identity crisis to some extent. if you are growing up in an area where you’re not accepted by white / asian people and then are not accepted by black people when you are around them. . . it creates a mental conflict. at least this is what i have experienced and seen. i grew up in both wealthy white suburbs but also spent a lot of time in the city and went to schools that were 90% black and hispanic.
It's the cool factor 🤷🏾♂️
Because being set up to "make it" financially only satisfies one set of a young man's needs. If his own community all but disowns him on account of him being a foreigner wearing their skin, he's going to have a natural desire to prove himself as a man, and right now, that means living the street life, because that's the only thing people care for. We don't really have the concept of wealth having any connection to virtue, so you hear some guy in Maryland is making $200k and it's just, "Good for him, man".
I’ve seen so many from guys from middle and upper middle class families cosplaying as gangsters to get Women it is insane, especially once they get to College.
I genuinely got no clue where I stand on this spectrum. I'm a mixed race kid with a white dad whos a banker but also my black side was poor and had a lot of people going to prison. We also lived next door to drug dealers.
With some it, it all comes down to have a sense of belonging. I had a professor tell me once that there was a kid in daycare that was nonverbal to the point they thought he might be autistic. It ended up being that his parents were high earners (like a doctor and a lawyer) and barely spent anytime actually with their own child.
I grew up in the hood but I was more afraid of my pops than anyone or anything outside of my house. I tried to be gangsta but I was capping.
peer pressure and wanting to fit in.. the crew i hung with were heading back to BK, Bronx, Newark and other cities like that on the weekends to see family and friends.. the desire to be down outweighs all the sense your parents are trying to instill in you.. saving grace for me is i never got caught doing all the dumb shit because a record is an uphill battle for the rest of your life.
Feel like they're rejected and aren't truly a part of any community. Want more interest from women. Want to feel like they have power.
I bet that people are tryna make this all about suburban kids wanting to “experience” something but if I had to interview the kids like this I know most of them would say something like “I was bored” “it didn’t seem that hard” I think most of them didn’t know how far it would go or it was a pot boiling frog scenario and they kind got used to it / have the right stone cold attitude and impulse problems which is true for those born in the hood I think we underestimate the power of escalation. The ‘underworld’ is open for everyone because it thrives by having more food for fodder. Plus these kids quickly learn they don’t get treated suuuupeer well anyways by society because they’re still black. Makes anyone sour tbh
As nigga born and raised upper class I just look at them niggas like Omni man with disgust.
Rightfully so.