Other than my New York Mets, the Major League Baseball playoffs have become the representation for some long forgotten ‘hoods. When I think of Detroit, St. Louis and Oakland I think of three urban centres that didn’t even get any money during the BILL CLINTON era so you can only imagine how forgotten they are under the son of a BUSH regime.
I remember visiting Detroit in 2003 and peeping how many homeless Black men there were. Detroit was so fucked up that I remember seeing a vacant office building tha!t had once housed a Foot Locker store at the ground floor, and the goddamned signage was falling off the facade. What kind of godforsaken city are you living in where the niggas let the sneaker store go out of business?
These were vibrant and vital areas to the growth of Hip-Hop as an artistic movement and I thought I should take a moment to highlight to highlight some of the artists and musicians that made these cities special.
TOO SHORT
This dude was the blueprint for the independent distribution effort that leads to a major label deal. Original TOO SHORT cassette tapes sell on eBay for upwards of $200 dollars. That’s major playin’.
TRICK TRICK
Fuck what you heard, this dude is one of the realest to ever grab a mic. Miami’s TRICK DADDY found out the hard way that these Detroit boys don’t play. When I was in Detroit to interview EMINEM for his mega-concert at Ford Field I ran into TRICK TRICK and his crew. In a short time they let me see who really runs the ‘D’.
NELLY
The only things that come from St. Louis are queers and beer (nullus to BOL). Your boy NELSON got on a DWIGHT GOODEN throwback in this video. Clairvoyant? I think so.
>>Miami’s TRICK DADDY found out the hard way that these Detroit boys don’t play.
how so?
TRICK TRICK knocked out TRICK DADDY…. (Its on one of those hood DVDs)
I met TRICK TRICK before. Cool dude. Cracked a 40 with him up on the radio before… Funny cat, but definitely respected in the D for what he does. I’m pretty sure Em did that appearance on his album PRO BONO.
I forgot which magazine it was but they did an ill photo essay on all the abandoned buildings in Detroit. These aren’t just houses closed up these are like Grand Central Station-eque places with intricate masonry work still in place… Its a shame… The Lions suck also.
I was in Detroit for a sorry a$$ Packer game in 02 (I think). The fans almost kicked our butts for wearing the Packer gear up in their house, and the city of Detroit? Good Lord!!! I remember thinking “this is Motor City?” WTF!
Don’t get me started on St Louis…that place was a hot mess when I visited. Geesh….
Tiff… True Story NOTHING is worse that Philly.
When I was in college in Philly my big bruh got drafted to the ‘Skins so we went to go see him play as a rookie at The Vet. Now we’re all brolic college scholars (and football players) and the smallest dude who rolled with us was like 5’10 215. We get to our seats in the Vets infamous “600 Seats” (aka the Nose Bleeds not just for how high up they are) and are immersed in South Philly’s blue collar army of Iggles Green…
So we take our seats and we’re watching these fans abuse and anoint Randall Cunningham all in the same drive. He goes from goat to God, doormat QB to future Super Bowl MVP. It was disturbing how they were treating THEIR OWN TEAM. So as the Budweisers coarse thru their veins and the game stays close some 12 year old kid is walking up the steps in a ‘Skins tee and wearing a pig mask in homage to their O-line “the Hogs”. Well Mighty Joe Six Pack and his cronies snatched that kid faster than a healthy white baby on the black market. They passed him to the middle of the section and tore his shirt off and threw his mask. Where his punk ass parents were I don’t know…
So now we’re realizing they’re on some real punk sh*t, and the 8 of us start chearing REAL LOUD for every minor success the ‘Skins have. Lo and behold THIS DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED. So Washington scores and we stand up and holler. The whole section turns around and we just all fold our arms, swell up and provide ice grills that would have made the FOI proud. Leave it to the smallest (and loudest) in the crew to start poppin’ off at the mouth with the thickest Miami accent.
“The f*ck y’all gon’ do f*ck n*gga! I ain’t no 12 year old keeeed!”
The yellow jacketed security force starts creeping over and I yell down “We got this. Just make sure the rest of them know we gonna cheer for who we want! We cool?!?!?”
The section all hung their head… “Yeah. They’re cool….”
Young Dallas you have once again warmed my heart! Too $hort rapping in the grave yard that all the gangsta’s in East Oakland are buried in. That’s my neck of the woods right there…ain’t nothing like home!
Speaking of which maybe I should be going home and looking for my old tapes in Mom’s basement for some E Bay cash!
I used to buy cassettes from him on the bus!