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I didn't say that NYC blacks sound southern because I know that they don't. I was responding to the claim that NYC blacks have no southern influence to their accents which is wrong because NYC blacks say "yall" which obviously originates from the south. Most Chicago blacks sound very southern so I strongly disagree with you. Chicago blacks sound completely different from blacks from NYC, Philly, Jersey and possibly Boston, which all don't sound southern at all.
People all around the country say yall. I know people from around the country that use that word. No one I met from Chicago sounds southern. They sound like they are from Chicago. Lupe Fiasco, Common, Kanye, and Twista don't sound southern at all.
People all around the country say yall. I know people from around the country that use that word. No one I met from Chicago sounds southern. They sound like they are from Chicago. Lupe Fiasco, Common, Kanye, and Twista don't sound southern at all.
I have family all over Chicago. There are obvious Southern influences in Chicago Black accents and I heard it the moment I got there years ago. Many sound just like they came off a train from Mississippi. There is nothing Northeastern about Chicago black accents. The South side maybe slightly more neutral. But you can definitely here the South in the Westside. And I can definitely here it when Twista speaks.
Most younger blacks in chicago (30 & younger) dont really have a thick country accent. A lot do but most sound like a mix between a bastardized version of country mississippi accent with a lil bit of the midwestern accent thrown in. But yeah most of the older generation do talk in a country accent.
Honestly there really isn't a common accent among black chicagoans, not IMO anyways. Not like how it is in say NY or New Orleans, or even D.C. Some sound country as hell while others not really...
People all around the country say yall. I know people from around the country that use that word. No one I met from Chicago sounds southern. They sound like they are from Chicago. Lupe Fiasco, Common, Kanye, and Twista don't sound southern at all.
I have met plenty of black Chicagoans that sound very southern. Recently I met a woman from Chicago that sounded so southern that if she told me she was from Alabama then I would of believed her. Twista, Lisa Raye, Bernie Mac, R. Kelly, Chief Keef etc all sound very southern. Kanye sounds southern at times. Common, Lupe and Donell Jones are the least southern black sounding black Chicagoans that I can think of. Most black Chicagoans sound very southern and many people would agree with me.
People all around the country say yall. I know people from around the country that use that word. No one I met from Chicago sounds southern. They sound like they are from Chicago. Lupe Fiasco, Common, Kanye, and Twista don't sound southern at all.
Have you ever watched Hoop Dreams? William Gates sounds southern, but Arthur Agee was over the top, especially when he was talking about his school report on butterflies. Gates' older brother, Curtis, also sounds very southern.
I think you also have to look at the Lowest Common Denominator in all of these cities. More educated people generally will not have an accent that swings one way or the other. Guys like Common and Lupe Fiasco are considered "conscious" artists and probably have a fair degree of education. I wouldn't expect them to sound like the average person I'd encounter in the Wild 100s (or the old Cabrini Green).
In Philly, the LCD would definitely be someone like Bernard Hopkins. Grew up in the Raymond Rosen projects, dropped out of school before junior high, did his first bid at 17. He's what you'd expect the most ignorant people in Philly to sound like. Yet he still sounds northern. As does Beanie Sigel (who also dropped out of junior high).
People from the east coast say that I have a southern accent and people from the deep south say that I have a northern accent. Back in my Alabama State days some of the locals went as far as to say that I sound like a white person. My accent is right on par with the rapper Common. My father was from Greenville Mississippi so I quess people from the east coast can hear a little of it when I speak. It is watered down compared to the true southern accent here in Atlanta. You will never hear blacks from Chicago use a word like gul for girl. As time goes on I think the accent will continue to evolve because blacks from the south are no longer migrated to Chicago in mass numbers. 50 years from now the southern influence could be all but gone.
At any rate, here's an interesting NYT article on accents in the Northeast. The article states the following:
Quote:
Northern urban blacks, according to a number of studies, have developed their own vernacular, essentially uniform in all cities and separate from the local white speech patterns. One study in Philadelphia, according to Mr. Labov, indicated that young Puerto Rican women tended to adopt the white Philadelphia accent while young Puerto Rican men tended toward the black vernacular.
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