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First, I'm mad that you included the Dipset on your list. If anything, those guys are a blemish on Harlem's sacred legacy.
and you're entitled to your opinion. some ppl might be mad that i included charlie rangel or al sharpton but it is what it is.
musically speaking, the diplomats have reached mainstream and have transcended their borough, city, state, and region. kids in cali, georgia, ohio, etc. know who the diplomats are and they started in harlem. they are a part of african american music that came out of ny that reached the masses. good or bad they are a part of black music that came out of nyc.
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Second, I'm not saying that NYC has absolutely NO soul. But it does not have the "soul" of a Detroit, Birmingham, Chicago, or Philly. By "soul," I mean black American culture. Calypso, soca, and reggae are not "soul" music and yam, roti and cou cou are not "soul" food. It is a very specific reference to a specific culture and genre.
explain why ny doesn't have the soul of the cities that you mention.
what is soul music to you, as well.
did you read about the musicians of the harlem renaissance? google it.
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Third, can you guys really claim Malcolm X, Louis Armstrong, Zora Neale Hurston and such? True, they made their names in Harlem (Armstrong actually made his name in the Chi before moving to NYC), but they are not products of NYC. Today, Harlem is a mix of blacks from the South (who will be a minority fairly soon) and West Africans. The other boroughs, especially Brooklyn, will be dominated by blacks of West Indian ancestry given the current immigration patterns (black Americans keep leaving NYC to head down south). That's why I said that city is less "soulful" than other places. If anything, NYC is more a West Indian town than anything else.
yes, we really can claim these ppl.
they got their starts in nyc. their careers are nyc and they are a part of our culture.
one does not have to be born in an area to make an impact in that area and to be "from" that area. there are plenty of examples so i will not argue on that but read any book about the harlem renaissance and your questions will be answered as to whether we can claim these ppl or not.
there was a time where blacks in the south moved to the north. would the south then be souless and not have rich african american history?? because the demographics changed over time?
i don't think so and i don't think others would agree with you.
i understand what you think but before you label nyc, learn about nyc.
NYC is too big and diverse to be associated with any one ethnicity. There are literally people from all over this planet residing in New York.
As far as "soulful," I can't say that any city is that. It comes down to the individual, and I DON'T think race has anything to do with it.
I defined "soulful." You didn't read what I wrote. "Soulful" does not mean the possession of "spirit" or "soul" in a literal sense. When I say "soul" food, you know that I mean fried chicken, macaroni, collards, yams, cornbread and such, right? If you asked for soul food, and I gave you a plate of roti and pelau, you'd be pretty confused, right? "Soul" is not a judgment; it's a descriptor.
NYC is too big and diverse to be associated with any one ethnicity. There are literally people from all over this planet residing in New York.
i disagree and it irks me when ppl that aren't from ny and that don't know much about ny say this.
as a person that is from ny and was here during the worst of times and now the best of times (i guess from a cleaner city, cookie cutter city standpoint) i can tell you that when we were bad, everything was teh fault of black ppl.
crack? black ppl.
guns? black ppl.
2000+ deaths a year? black ppl.
prostitution, pimps, scam artists? black ppl.
bums? black ppl.
suspects? black ppl.
but now that we don't have as much of the above as we used to, now we're a "west indian city" that "no one ethnicity dominates" and "don't have a rich black culture like philly or some other city."
I defined "soulful." You didn't read what I wrote. "Soulful" does not mean the possession of "spirit" or "soul" in a literal sense. When I say "soul" food, you know that I mean fried chicken, macaroni, collards, yams, cornbread and such, right? If you asked for soul food, and I gave you a plate of roti and pelau, you'd be pretty confused, right? "Soul" is not a judgment; it's a descriptor.
The dictionary defines "soulful" as:
S: (adj) soulful (full of or expressing deep emotion) "soulful eyes"; "soulful music"
You defined "soulful" as black.
You can't redefine words to mean something else. If I wanted to say that "bright" was a synonym for "Minnesotan," and then claim that NYC wasn't very "bright," I couldn't do that, right?
You're missing the point. NYC has an AA influence, but the West Indian influence is just as strong, maybe stronger, and it has been this way for some time now. If you don't think this is the case, you should take a trip down to the Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights on Monday. Maybe we can meet up.
Those aren't northern cities, they're Midwestern cities. By northern, I mean Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia. I suppose people in Detroit think of themselves as northerners, but when people say "up north," I think most tend to think of the East Coast.
Not really. If you go to Mississippi or Georgia, midwestern cities are definitely "up north." That's just your view...people in the Midwest might see Philly new York etc as eastern cities.
i disagree and it irks me when ppl that aren't from ny and that don't know much about ny say this.
as a person that is from ny and was here during the worst of times and now the best of times (i guess from a cleaner city, cookie cutter city standpoint) i can tell you that when we were bad, everything was teh fault of black ppl.
crack? black ppl.
guns? black ppl.
2000+ deaths a year? black ppl.
prostitution, pimps, scam artists? black ppl.
bums? black ppl.
suspects? black ppl.
but now that we don't have as much of the above as we used to, now we're a "west indian city" that "no one ethnicity dominates" and "don't have a rich black culture like philly or some other city."
get outta here. when we were like this:
we were black tho, right?
No. NYC was diverse then, and it is diverse today. No race dominates in New York. It does not have a majority, or even a significant plurality, race or ethnicity.
S: (adj) soulful (full of or expressing deep emotion) "soulful eyes"; "soulful music"
You defined "soulful" as black.
You can't redefine words to mean something else. If I wanted to say that "bright" was a synonym for "Minnesotan," and then claim that NYC wasn't very "bright," I couldn't do that, right?
What are you talking about? A word can have more than one meaning, so long as that meaning is recognized by more than one person. So if I said your shoes were "tight," you would loosen the strings? Or if I said that Obama was a "bad" man, you'd liken him to Adolf Hitler? You understood perfectly well what I meant without the need to resort to Webster's. Stop playing.
i'm from jamaica ny. what would i need to go to crown heights to see west indian culture for? we have a ton of guyanese indians here as it is. at one time it was a lot of haitians, jamaicans, ppl from trinidad, etc.
smh at this even being a discussion tho. like the harlem renaissance didn't exist, like hip hop wasn't created from black plight.
i'm done tho. i've already proven my point with pics and videos and have stated my opinion on why nyc should be considered in this discussion. the proof is there. the facts support my statements.
Odd, I was thinking the exact same thing, right before I read your post. Oakland DEFINITELY deserves props(black panthers). It's probably the most diverse of the "black cities".
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