anyone heard of Bro's in East County? (San Diego, Oakland: unemployment, buy)

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

Bors have exploded recently. They're in the other suburbs too, taking the skater look and adding the generally inarticulate characteristics. I've noticed them in Northern CA as well when visiting my parents for the holidays.

I see a dichotomy among the young people today. The mainstream youth culture is centered around a technocrat / post-punk / 80's throwback sentiment that is big on internet / mobile / media. They are at least obstensibly connected to the world and each other and seem to care. On the other side there is a large but shrinking group of disenfranchised, poor-to-moderately-educated young people who are still into the bro / hip-hop / gangster / anti-social stuff and are increasingly finding themselves left out of the trends of their peers.

One thing I see living near SDSU is a large number of young white males with almost zero chance of ever being employable due to attitude / dress, while the females and the immigrant / minority students seem to be much more together. A lot of the minority kids are eschewing the hip-hop stereotype and moving more towards the "Kanye" look with tight jeans and funky sneakers, a much less 'hard' look. When I go back to the east coast it seems like most white kids are stuck in the 90's and are still wearing FUBU and ECKO and other goofy stuff that went out 10 years ago.

[tande1n5]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

I see a dichotomy among the young people today. The mainstream youth culture is centered around a technocrat / post-punk / 80's throwback sentiment that is big on internet / mobile / media. They are at least obstensibly connected to the world and each other and seem to care. On the other side there is a large but shrinking group of disenfranchised, poor-to-moderately-educated young people who are still into the bro / hip-hop / gangster / anti-social stuff and are increasingly finding themselves left out of the trends of their peers.

One thing I see living near SDSU is a large number of young white males with almost zero chance of ever being employable due to attitude / dress, while the females and the immigrant / minority students seem to be much more together. A lot of the minority kids are eschewing the hip-hop stereotype and moving more towards the "Kanye" look with tight jeans and funky sneakers, a much less 'hard' look. When I go back to the east coast it seems like most white kids are stuck in the 90's and are still wearing FUBU and ECKO and other goofy stuff that went out 10 years ago.

I agree with that, I should say that the explosion is mostly within the people that are within that latter group, and I attest it to the style becoming the new 'in' thing as the formerly segmented hooligan looks mix, not from an increase of idiots or anti-social behavior, necessarily. If anything, it IS declining on the whole.

There certainly is a "get on the boat or be left behind" mentality, and as time passes, the more the rift's going to be obvious. I was going to state not too many years ago and as a business student you could see the ones that were going to get it and those that weren't. In the 400 levels, the numbers were of course heavily in favor of those that "got it," but taking a step out into the quads, where you were with a true mix of those that would be eternally stuck in lower division-land, you could see this same thing.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

I agree with that, I should say that the explosion is mostly within the people that are within that latter group, and I attest it to the style becoming the new 'in' thing as the formerly segmented hooligan looks mix, not from an increase of idiots or anti-social behavior, necessarily. If anything, it IS declining on the whole.

I think the bro thing really peaked around 2000... at that point it was everywhere. Skaters in particular have moved on for the most part. Travis Barker, Blink 182 et al are pretty much ancient history at this point.

[BRinSM]

I spent time in college both here in CA and also back east while the bro scene was in its infancy. while back east pretty much every young person wore ambercrombie clothes, i really didn't see anyone wearing fubu or anything like that. when i came back home, the emo scene was growing and eveyone was wearing black, which mixed with the punk rock scene of wearing dickies and having tattoes, which also mixed with the motocross style of trucker caps and a "white trash" look to ultimately form the look of the bro: skate shoes, black socks pulled up half way to the knee, large/baggy dickies short/pants, black tshirts with favorite clothing brand emblazened across the front, and ball cap with flat bill. As others have mentioned, this also usually came with tattoos and piercings. The most common tattoos seem to be nautical stars, flames, and sparrows.

[JakeInSoCal]

yes there everywhere. they came out of EC & now u can find them anywhere.

[CRAIGHIMSELF]

I know the "bro" scene all too well as I used to be one back in 2001 until 2004. Its all relative in terms of what social class and extracuricular activities you chose to partake in. I used to race off road trucks and surrounded myself around that type: wore all black, flat-biller hats, didnt give a damn attitude, but avoided any tattoos. Until one day I literally woke up and was over the stigma behind it. I sold my truck, matured, realized that society thought I was a dumbass and didnt want to be labeled that way anymore.

I honestly believe its the same attitude as being in a gang in any other part of town; the same concepts apply.
-You do what others around you are doing, if not, you'll be ostracized
-The more the group does something, the more you'll do it
-You tend to stick to what you're familiar with

Do I miss that lifestyle? Absolutely not.
Do I think its deeper than just wanting to be a bro? Yes.
Why? I think socioeconomics mixed with the idea of a "cool guy" subculture thrives within that trend.

I get it. I believe everyone has the right to label themselves however they choose but there are definitely stigmas attached to everything and being a "bro" doesnt help with the "DGAF" stickers on the back of their trucks (Dont Give A F**K).

Let those guys do their thing, let the gangsters do their thing, let me do my thing and let the roads of our decisions take us to where we want to go.

[FunkyMonk]

These kind of guys have been around forever. I used to meet guys like this in Northern California way back in like 1995. It was a little bit different though up there. They usually drove muscle cars instead of trucks and they usually wore white hats and shirts instead of black. And up there they were usually really poor, and they came from the most run down places in the city. In SoCal most of them are rich kids who waste thousands of dollars and trucks and crap.

But besides that it was basically the same. Just white gangster style.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by JakeInSoCal

yes there everywhere. they came out of EC & now u can find them anywhere.

I don't think the Bros came from the East Coast. ISTM to be an indigenous California phenomenon that merely paralleled the Guido of the Northeast and the Chav of Great Britain. There were obviously similar cultural influences at work throughout the US (and UK) that caused all three to emerge in their current form about the same time. Blaming Broism on the East is as ridiculous as blaming it on England (or likewise Brits claiming that Chavs came from California, or New Yorkers claiming that Guidos were a CA import).

As to when it started, I'd say late '90s, with the emergence of Sublime and their popularity (certainly the #1 Bro band)

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by majoun

I don't think the Bros came from the East Coast.

By "EC" he means El Cajon.

[CRAIGHIMSELF]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

By "EC" he means El Cajon.

I concur.