BAMMER said:
If there were 200 cans of pepsi in my house,are you gonna go in the laundry room first to find it?NO,your gonna go in everyone's fridge,regardless the size of the house.
Mtv does'nt give a fuck about anything other than a "section(s)" of a city where hip-hop is a way of life. They ain't goin to little Tommy's and Uncle Skylers house in North Phoenix. So your numbers don't mean much.
I really like that Pepsi can analogy, that's a great visual. You obviously understand THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMOGRAPHICS/SCALE AND HIP-HOP CULTURE, which is exactly what we're talking about. What I'm not sure you realize is that the numbers can easily address the issue of scale.
The
Block Group is a geographic unit grouping city blocks (usually around 20 blocks in
urban areas) into one statistical entity. Now of course there
can be a considerable amount of variation within a 20 block area, I know you're stomping ground of West Seattle is a perfect example. But still, what shapes a special space in hip-hop culture is almost always shaped by the characteristics of the larger area surrounding that space. The mom & pop record store, the corner barber shop, the spot to get some chicken wings and the intersection with special significance are not located randomly. They are all there for a specific reason, and that reason is usually the people living around them.
With the Block Group, let's look at Phoenix vs. Youngstown
(My Source):
Phoenix AZ (pop = 1,321,045)
* 10 block groups where blacks are atleast 33% of the population, all in South Phoenix
* 2 block groups where blacks are over 50% of the population (highest = 78.1%, average of these 2 block groups = 72.1%)
Youngstown OH (pop = 82,026)
* 43 block groups where blacks are over 33% of the population, all in Central & East Youngstown
* 32 block groups where blacks are over 50% of the population (highest = 98.4%, average of these 43 block groups = 86% black)
What this means is that a despite being 15x Youngstown's size, Phoenix has only a tiny fraction of the physical "hip-hop space" that Youngstown has.
Interpreted carefully, the numbers indicate that "moderately black Phoenix" is roughly 1/4 the size of "moderately black Youngstown" and "truly black Phoenix" is roughly 1/16 the size of "truly black Youngstown."
There are simply no
sizable truly black neighborhoods in Phoenix. Black people in Phoenix do not live around each other like they do in Youngstown. Black people in Phoenix do not occupy & influence physical space like they do in Youngstown. These are both true to a lesser extent in our city.
In order for your argument to pan out, you've got to convince me that
EITHER the Mexicans are a vital part of their hip-hop community (and thereby have culturally significant physical spaces)
OR that MTV My Block will go to areas where white people live (you already told me they wouldn't visit my uncle Skyler & cousin Tommy's crib).
On the MTV My Block selection choice, if all they're looking for is "hood" then it's got to be Youngstown and it's not even close.