This Won't Ruin Our Rep, Will It?
As we all know, New York City has a reputation for being a tough place. Full of graffiti and crime, bad drivers and pushy people, it's so bad that when my New York-raised father was living out in the Southwest during his 20's, parents wouldn't let him date their daughters because they assumed that anyone from Brooklyn must be a thug!
As expressed in the musical Rent:
Or as the rap artist Lil Kim sings
about my home borough of Brooklyn:
But how are we supposed to keep up our tough guy reputation when our own local news station reports something like this?!
Oh well. Welcome to wimpyville. Aloha, Honolulu.
As expressed in the musical Rent:
New York City —
center of the universe!
Times are sh—y,
but I'm pretty sure they can't get worse.
It's a comfort to know,
when you're singing the hit-the-road blues,
that anywhere else you could possibly go
after New York would be
a pleasure cruise...
Or as the rap artist Lil Kim sings
about my home borough of Brooklyn:
...know who you f— with
Brooklyn don't run, we run s—
roll up and just bum rush it
we don't play that
out in BK not at all
four pound leave your face on a wall
RIP in memory of
never show thy enemies love
we get it on where we live
better have a pass when you cross that bridge
welcome to Brooklyn...
But how are we supposed to keep up our tough guy reputation when our own local news station reports something like this?!
November 21, 2005
New York has boasted being one of the country's safest cities for years, and now it has more proof.
According to a new survey, New York is among the top five safest large cities in the nation. The study was done by a Kansas-based group which ranks cities in six categories, including the number of murders, rapes and other violent crimes.
The survey shows that among cities with more than 500,000 people, New York comes in fourth behind San Jose, California; El Paso, Texas; and Honolulu. Austin, Texas, rounded out the top five.
On the other end of the spectrum, the most dangerous large city, according to the survey, is Detroit, followed by Baltimore and Washington D.C.
Camden, New Jersey, was listed as the most dangerous city overall for the second year in a row.
Oh well. Welcome to wimpyville. Aloha, Honolulu.
carved on the walls of the caverns by Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) at 11/21/2005 09:07:00 PM
4 Comments:
Great song selections. I'm suspicious that maybe the people in Kansas were just afraid of us New Yorkers and gave us a good ranking so we wouldn't beat them down...funny dad story....
Good idea, MC Aryeh! ;-)
Lil' Kim was surely playing on part of the myth structure that some (I'll give you a hint, it's not Jews) perceive to be part of Brooklyn life. For other Brooklyn rappers who also portray BK in a similar light, one need only reference the works of Fabolous, Jay-Z, or the late, great Biggie Smalls (a mentor of Lil' Kim, btw).
I'm glad it's not so dangerous. Up here in the Heights, it may be sketchy, but at least there's not as much crime as people might suggest there would be.
I know what you mean... when I told someone of a somewhat older generation that I was thinking of moving up to the Heights, they reacted as if i said i were thinking of moving to Fallujah.
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