What's wrong with Atlantic Station? (Atlanta, Dunwoody: crimes, move to, pub)

[Tab1975]

Well,

I have to say this...being from NYC, I do appreciate Atlantic station...to me it was billed as a complex that offers all to the residents that lived there...CRIME goes everywhere there is an outlet and teenagers with saggy pants though I don’t like to see their azzez, have to right to go where they please...you hope they won’t act like ignorant teens, but just normal teens(lol...is there one...I have one now and they ain’t normal...LOL)...Sometimes I read these messages and I can’t help to see the blatant racism in them...I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but every time someone comes and shows me who they are.

I run every Tuesday with Black Girls Run and we meet in the square between Rosa Mexicana and Strip and never have I seen the issues that are talked about...if it is cold...people are not really out except the ladies of BGR trying to get our 3 or 5 miles in. So think that the opinions are just that...OPINIONS. Have an open mind...wherever you go you are going to see stuff you don’t like...the world is not going to cater to your likes and dislikes...COME ON PEOPLE!!!!

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by arjay57

We should be proud of hip hop, not embarrassed by it. Why should we Atlantans view the mention of "hip hop" as a negative?

Amen, Bro-jay.

[jetter2]

I like Atlantic Station! I live across the banana bridge @ 16th/W Peachtree and I walk over there all the time to shop/eat/see movies(unless I just take Marta outside my front door up to Lenox =p

[ATLTJL]

We should be proud of hip hop, not embarrassed by it. Why should we Atlantans view the mention of "hip hop" as a negative?

This could be somebody's doctorate.

I think most of it has to do with the most visible fans of hip hop, not necessarily the music itself. When a lot of people think of people who identify with and listen to hip hop, they think of criminals and people who suck off the system's social programs. Single mothers who collect welfare, fathers who have kids with tons of different women and don't care for any of them, you know, every negative stereotype. A lot of it is due both to what people actually see and what is portrayed in the media.

Think back to the 80s. What did most people think of when they thought of heavy metal? Teenagers with long hair drinking and smoking dope instead of going to school. Movies never showed CEOs in their offices jamming to Metallica. Now we know that was going on, but it wasn't portrayed that way.

Same thing with hip hop. I'm sure there are CEOs blasting it in their offices, but that's just not the image for it that has stuck.

You could go into all kinds of arguments about whether the music itself propagates this stereotype, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is, hip hop mostly has a negative perception, from hoochies shaking their a$$es at clubs waiting to go home with the first man who shows a wad of $100s to that same woman sitting in a project 10 years later with 5 babies and no husband. It's not right, but that's the image.

That's why a lot of people do not feel like hip hop is something to be celebrated.

[muxBuppie]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

This could be somebody's doctorate.

I think most of it has to do with the most visible fans of hip hop, not necessarily the music itself. When a lot of people think of people who identify with and listen to hip hop, they think of criminals and people who suck off the system's social programs. Single mothers who collect welfare, fathers who have kids with tons of different women and don't care for any of them, you know, every negative stereotype. A lot of it is due both to what people actually see and what is portrayed in the media.

Think back to the 80s. What did most people think of when they thought of heavy metal? Teenagers with long hair drinking and smoking dope instead of going to school. Movies never showed CEOs in their offices jamming to Metallica. Now we know that was going on, but it wasn't portrayed that way.

Same thing with hip hop. I'm sure there are CEOs blasting it in their offices, but that's just not the image for it that has stuck.

You could go into all kinds of arguments about whether the music itself propagates this stereotype, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is, hip hop mostly has a negative perception, from hoochies shaking their a$$es at clubs waiting to go home with the first man who shows a wad of $100s to that same woman sitting in a project 10 years later with 5 babies and no husband. It's not right, but that's the image.

That's why a lot of people do not feel like hip hop is something to be celebrated.

Ironically, I just saw what looked like a nicely dressed European transplant driving a late model Mercedes listening to loud hip hop. I don't even think it was American hip hop at that.

[ATLTJL]

Yup, and one of the sweetest, smartest, and classiest women I have ever known is a huge Jay-Z fan and could almost definitely tell you much more about him and his music than 99% of the people who listen to him.

But I've never seen a woman in a professional environment wearing business attire jamming to hip hop in one of the music videos for it, have you?

[tonygeorgia]

Why can't we like hip hop if its ok for others to like heavy metal?

[muxBuppie]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Why can't we like hip hop if its ok for others to like heavy metal?

As someone who listen's to a lot heavy music I agree. A lot of the lyrics to much of the metal/hardcore stuff on my ipod has pretty negative lyrics and themes : rape, genocide of the human race, gory misogyny, violence etc.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by arjay57

We should be proud of hip hop, not embarrassed by it. Why should we Atlantans view the mention of "hip hop" as a negative?

Because the core value of hip-hop music and culture is social and physical aggression and dominance. It's astonishing that educated people would consider hip-hop to be positive.

Originally Posted by Tab1975

Have an open mind...wherever you go you are going to see stuff you don’t like...the world is not going to cater to your likes and dislikes...COME ON PEOPLE!!!!

Not true. If you live in a homogenous neighborhood or country, for the most part your preferences will be catered to.

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Why can't we like hip hop if its ok for others to like heavy metal?

This is a good example of the schizoid mentality of the hip-hop community. On the one hand, it's loaded with threats of physical violence, misogyny, etc. In other words, dominance is the highest virtue. On the other hand, "please stop making fun of me, you're hurting my feelings".

[ATLTJL]

Someone working on the doctorate would have to comment on that.

I'm not sure how heavy metal pulled itself up and shed a lot of the negative stereotypes associated with it. Maybe it's because it's an older form of music? Because people like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson have proven to be highly intelligent and insightful in interviews? I don't know, you could say the same for Jay-Z and Chuck D, so I just don't know.

But as an interesting experiment, listen to 96.1 for a while and make a log of the businesses you hear advertised. Then do the same thing with 107.9

I have never actually done this, but my hypothesis is that you would be able to surmise that hard rock music is marketed to a more affluent demographic than hip hop.

EDIT: You might be able to argue that metal plays to "fantasy violence." Most of the violence described in heavy metal though macabre is fantasy violence that most people would never actually engage in (sacrificing people, eating people, going to Hell, and so on.) Hip hops brand of violence is much more realistic, just shooting someone with a gun. It's kind of like the difference between blowing ripping people's spines out in Mortal Kombat or shooting someone with a gun in Call of Duty. One may seem more gory, but the realistic one is actually probably more dangerous.