Rising Montgomery County Rap superstar has people actually believing Gaithersburg is just like Compton (Baltimore: section 8, crime)
Washington, DC suburbs in MarylandCalvert County, Charles County, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County
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24 year old Gaithersburg, MD born and raised rapper Logic has the second best selling Rap album in the country with his Def Jam records debut album Under Pressure. On his debut album, Logic focuses on his upbringing as a biracial half black-half white child who looks wholly caucasian growing up with a drug addicted father and drug dealing older brothers in "Section 8" housing in Gaithersburg. As an avid Rap fan, Logic's debut is incredibly bland and underwhelming. On Under Pressure, Logic appropriates the same exact flows, word play, voice inflections, ad libs, subject matter and even the same production values and beat sample selections as a Good Kid M.A.A.D. City Kendrick Lamar. When Logic is not blatantly copying Kendrick Lamar, he is mimicking the trademark sing-song flows of Drake or the heady self reflections of J. Cole complete with the same delivery, flow and voice inflections. Logic finds himself literally trying to recreate Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole songs on this album. His work previous to this album also blatantly copies Drake and J. Cole. He comes off as a white suburban kid rapping the songs of his favorite BET rappers in front of a mirror. Although his album is selling very well, it has been panned by a number of critics because of the blatant unoriginality and glaring lack of artistry in his latest work.
Logic reps his "hood", if it even can be called that, of West Deer Park Road in Gaithersburg as if it were Piru Street in early 90's era murder capital Compton . He speaks of his "hood" as a place where you might get "murdered just because". He also talks about "throwing up sets" and to be careful where he lives because they "kill here"
As a lifelong Hip Hop fan who actually grew up in the hood in California, I find Logic's farce filled depiction of Gaithersburg as the same type of "mad city" as a place like Compton or East Baltimore to be completely disrespectful to Rap music as a genre and a slap in the face to anybody who has lived in an American ghetto. Places where young children have higher incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder than soldiers at war. I am in Baltimore city every week of the year driving and walking through blocks where the murder risk is more than nine times the national average.
I think Def Jam is seeing dollars signs with Logic because he fills a void in bridging the gap between the legendary major Hip Hop record label that birthed Run DMC and L.L. Cool J and masses of young white suburban consumers who actually buy Rap records. Suburban white kids love Kendrick Lamar, but can never feel too close to him because they grew up in much safer environments to better off families with more opportunities than a black kid from 90's era Compton. Logic makes them feel closer to the "struggle" because he looks as white as someone from Leave it to Beaver and he talks about "Section 8" townhouses in a quiet relatively safe suburban neighborhood in affluent Montgomery County as if its the same as the worst blocks of Deep East Oakland. Logic is almost as bad as Macklemore in my opinion. I know PG County posters will agree with my assessment, but I am afraid some Montgomery County residents will try to insinuate that Gaithersburg is somehow really "the hood" like this clown Logic is implying. Please drive and walk through West Baltimore everyday for months and get back to me.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 11-14-2014 at 08:23 PM..
Logic reps his "hood", if it even can be called that, of West Deer Park Road in Gaithersburg as if it were Piru Street in early 90's era murder capital Compton . He speaks of his "hood" as a place where you might get "murdered just because". He also talks about "throwing up sets" and to be careful where he lives because they "kill here"
That does not sound like an accurate description of that area. Is he really from there? I'm from Detroit and West Deer Park area does not resemble any hoods I have ever seen in the slightest.
That does not sound like an accurate description of that area. Is he really from there? I'm from Detroit and West Deer Park area does not resemble any hoods I have ever seen in the slightest.
That's because West Deer Park is nowhere near being the hood. But yes, that's where Logic is from:
I live out here in suburban Maryland and nowhere in the entirety of Montgomery County can be described as ghetto. Montgomery County is one of the top 15 wealthiest suburban counties in America. In years past, I believe Montgomery County has ranked as high as the top five richest counties in America. I heard some parts of Silver Spring were bad in the early 90's because it bordered murder capital era DC, but that's about it. In the DC Area, the real hoods are in DC, proper, Uptown Northwest along Georgia Avenue, Northeast and Southeast DC along with the immediate areas bordering DC in Prince Georges County.
If it makes you feel any better I am a suburban white person and I like Kendrick Lamar but not Logic. Logic's music is just very mediocre. I never cared enough to look into his background but after some brief research you're right from what I can tell. I'm not convinced his life was necessarily butterflies and rainbows either. Regardless of his economic background he can still talk about certain things that he apparently experienced (I'm so indifferent to him so I don't know). But the way certain rappers have been marketed is still an issue.
Out of curiosity, what is your opinion on suburban white rappers who are honest about their upbringing? (like Aesop Rock, The Alchemist, The Streets, etc.) IMO they are respectable and I'd rather listen to them than some goofs trying to sell an image. I'm not a fan of Macklemore musically (it's always been corny to me) but I don't know if it's fair to put him in the same category as Logic since Macklemore has at least always been honest about his role in hip-hop, regardless of the quality of his music. As a white person in the suburbs I find this to be an interesting subject because I've always loved hip-hop but I've never wanted to participate in a way that was insulting or otherwise negative (don't worry; I'm not a rapper but I've taken interest in the production/instrumental aspect). Even I get concerned when I see rappers like this so easily selling an image to a bunch of people with no respect for hip-hop culture.
I don't live in DC (the thread was in the front and caught my attention), so I don't know much about the different areas other than what is basically nationally known. I'll leave that to the rest of you to discuss. All I can say is I sincerely hope we reach a point where there'll be no people who are afraid for their lives because of where they live.
There is old school phrase we use, it's called Perpetrating A Fraud
Quote:
Originally Posted by LunaticVillage
24 year old Gaithersburg, MD born and raised rapper Logic has the second best selling Rap album in the country with his Def Jam records debut album Under Pressure. On his debut album, Logic focuses on his upbringing as a biracial half black-half white child who looks wholly caucasian growing up with a drug addicted father and drug dealing older brothers in "Section 8" housing in Gaithersburg. As an avid Rap fan, Logic's debut is incredibly bland and underwhelming. On Under Pressure, Logic appropriates the same exact flows, word play, voice inflections, ad libs, subject matter and even the same production values and beat sample selections as a Good Kid M.A.A.D. City Kendrick Lamar. When Logic is not blatantly copying Kendrick Lamar, he is mimicking the trademark sing-song flows of Drake or the heady self reflections of J. Cole complete with the same delivery, flow and voice inflections. Logic finds himself literally trying to recreate Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole songs on this album. His work previous to this album also blatantly copies Drake and J. Cole. He comes off as a white suburban kid rapping the songs of his favorite BET rappers in front of a mirror. Although his album is selling very well, it has been panned by a number of critics because of the blatant unoriginality and glaring lack of artistry in his latest work.
Logic reps his "hood", if it even can be called that, of West Deer Park Road in Gaithersburg as if it were Piru Street in early 90's era murder capital Compton . He speaks of his "hood" as a place where you might get "murdered just because". He also talks about "throwing up sets" and to be careful where he lives because they "kill here"
As a lifelong Hip Hop fan who actually grew up in the hood in California, I find Logic's farce filled depiction of Gaithersburg as the same type of "mad city" as a place like Compton or East Baltimore to be completely disrespectful to Rap music as a genre and a slap in the face to anybody who has lived in an American ghetto. Places where young children have higher incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder than soldiers at war. I am in Baltimore city every week of the year driving and walking through blocks where the murder risk is more than nine times the national average.
I think Def Jam is seeing dollars signs with Logic because he fills a void in bridging the gap between the legendary major Hip Hop record label that birthed Run DMC and L.L. Cool J and masses of young white suburban consumers who actually buy Rap records. Suburban white kids love Kendrick Lamar, but can never feel too close to him because they grew up in much safer environments to better off families with more opportunities than a black kid from 90's era Compton. Logic makes them feel closer to the "struggle" because he looks as white as someone from Leave it to Beaver and he talks about "Section 8" townhouses in a quiet relatively safe suburban neighborhood in affluent Montgomery County as if its the same as the worst blocks of Deep East Oakland. Logic is almost as bad as Macklemore in my opinion. I know PG County posters will agree with my assessment, but I am afraid some Montgomery County residents will try to insinuate that Gaithersburg is somehow really "the hood" like this clown Logic is implying. Please drive and walk through West Baltimore everyday for months and get back to me.
If it makes you feel any better I am a suburban white person and I like Kendrick Lamar but not Logic. Logic's music is just very mediocre. I never cared enough to look into his background but after some brief research you're right from what I can tell. I'm not convinced his life was necessarily butterflies and rainbows either. Regardless of his economic background he can still talk about certain things that he apparently experienced (I'm so indifferent to him so I don't know). But the way certain rappers have been marketed is still an issue.
Out of curiosity, what is your opinion on suburban white rappers who are honest about their upbringing? (like Aesop Rock, The Alchemist, The Streets, etc.) IMO they are respectable and I'd rather listen to them than some goofs trying to sell an image. I'm not a fan of Macklemore musically (it's always been corny to me) but I don't know if it's fair to put him in the same category as Logic since Macklemore has at least always been honest about his role in hip-hop, regardless of the quality of his music. As a white person in the suburbs I find this to be an interesting subject because I've always loved hip-hop but I've never wanted to participate in a way that was insulting or otherwise negative (don't worry; I'm not a rapper but I've taken interest in the production/instrumental aspect). Even I get concerned when I see rappers like this so easily selling an image to a bunch of people with no respect for hip-hop culture.
I don't live in DC (the thread was in the front and caught my attention), so I don't know much about the different areas other than what is basically nationally known. I'll leave that to the rest of you to discuss. All I can say is I sincerely hope we reach a point where there'll be no people who are afraid for their lives because of where they live.
Hip Hop is about being yourself. I have no problem with rappers of any race accurately representing who they are in an honest, fresh, creative and original manner. Kanye West changed the game ten years ago because he was just being himself as a middle class black kid from Chicagoland who had everything from a fresh original Rap style and conscious subject matter to an original fresh Hip Hop Carlton Banks dresscode of Polo everything which made everybody trade in their 6XL white tees and throwback jerseys for Ralph Lauren Polos, rugby shirts, blazers, bear sweaters and premium denim. What makes Kendrick Lamar so much better than his peers aside from his lyrical dexterity and original style is that he is completely honest about his upbringing. Although Kendrick was born and raised in Compton, he doesn't claim to be a Blood or Crip unlike everybody in the modern Rap music industry who falsely claims to be a Blood. He was just a regular square kid from the hood. Everybody from Lil Wayne to Chris Brown fraudulently claims Blood affiliation although their gang ties are a joke at best because Wayne is from New Orleans and Chris Brown is from rural Virginia. Even Compton's own the Game is a perpetrator in claiming to be a gangster because he claimed to be the only "Blood in a Crip neighborhood". This makes no sense. It's like being from Benning Road and claiming Trinidad in NE DC. Claiming a rival hood can get you killed in any city in America. It's called being a turf hopper where I'm from in the Bay Area.
Logic probably didn't have a perfect life. But nobody has a perfect life. Right now the face of heroin addiction looks like a wealthy white trustfund baby from outer ring suburbia. Heroin addiction is no joke. Running to the hood everyday doing a drug that can kill you from an overdose at any minute buying drugs in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in North America and robbing, stealing and doing anything for your next fix so you won't get "dope sick" is a hard life.
But Logic threw his father under the bus for being an addict. Although is father may have been an addict, he obviously was there in his life and was supportive of his career. A huge to overwhelmingly dominant percentage of black kids in the hood grow up never knowing their fathers at all. This is one of the main reasons why the hood is so messed up.
If you are afraid of West Deer Park Road in Gaithersburg, then you are just a straight up spoiled p#ssy. There is no way around it. Nobody gets killed over there, ever. There aren't gunshots every night like Logic is implying. The so-called "Section 8" areas in Montgomery and Howard counties are lightyears safer than any inner city area in America. Complaining about "Section 8" in Montgomery or Howard County is like complaining that you got authentic Gucci everything, but all of it was found and bought from the thrift store over time because couldn't afford to pay full inflated Neiman Marcus price for any of it because you are lower middle class. The overall personal crime risk in Gaithersburg (which includes murder, robbery, property crime etc.) is much, much, much lower than the national average.
All rap music is culturally inferior garbage so why are we giving this attention and acknowledgement?
Before you get on my case most of the pop "music" that dominates our airwaves belongs in the dumpster too (note: as opposed to the recycle bin).
The fact that half-n-half here is trying to appear "harder" than he really is or how he grew up should tell us a lot about "urban" "culture" here in the US. Why do so many aspire to live a "hard" life? Why is the lifestyle of thuggery recognized as legitimate? Why are bad decisions in life not only tolerated but actually encouraged?
We need to have a thorough look into what gets promoted in the mass media these days, and take a moment to look at ourselves (for those who like what the media market produces) to figure out why we so eagerly swallow the garbage and nonsense that makes it's way into the forefront and the limelight.
There is old school phrase we use, it's called Perpetrating A Fraud
yep, and that's whats wrong with these chumps these days...soon as you start checkin they azz ..."oh you a hater...don't hate"....straight up suckas. SMH.
All rap music is culturally inferior garbage so why are we giving this attention and acknowledgement?
Before you get on my case most of the pop "music" that dominates our airwaves belongs in the dumpster too (note: as opposed to the recycle bin).
The fact that half-n-half here is trying to appear "harder" than he really is or how he grew up should tell us a lot about "urban" "culture" here in the US. Why do so many aspire to live a "hard" life? Why is the lifestyle of thuggery recognized as legitimate? Why are bad decisions in life not only tolerated but actually encouraged?
We need to have a thorough look into what gets promoted in the mass media these days, and take a moment to look at ourselves (for those who like what the media market produces) to figure out why we so eagerly swallow the garbage and nonsense that makes it's way into the forefront and the limelight.
The bolded sounds very classist and racist, buddy. I grew up in the hood and the beauty of Rap music was that it exposed the world to the very real inequalities and struggles of life in the ghetto that would be unknown to everyone around the world otherwise.
Without Rap music, most people in America would know nothing about places like Compton, Queensbridge, Marcy projects, Fifth Ward Houston, East Oakland, North Philly, East Atlanta etc. Rap music is the CNN of the ghetto. Rap, at its best, reignites and carries the torch that seemingly burned out after the race riots of the 60's, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and the Civil Rights Movement. Rap music is one of the most popular genres of music, in the entire world. Hip Hop music is bigger and more powerful than any corny suburban cynic could ever fathom.
And also, ghetto people were not created in vacuum. White people fled city neighborhoods when too many black people moved in. The race riots of the 60's scared white people and the need for black population control became a top priority in every city and metro area in America. After that, the factories where blacks worked were shutdown and moved overseas as tons of foreign heroin, cocaine and guns were imported into inner city areas as a means of such population control. Welfare programs replaced the need for fathers in the ghetto and war on drugs policies led to mass incarceration of young black men who were selling foreign grown hard drugs that Uncle Sam helped import into the country every month. The end result of decades of this systematic oppression is ghetto culture. If you are white born and raised in the suburbs and your parents were not immigrants or rural dwellers, you can probably trace your family's own white flight from the city back in the 50's, 60's or 70's.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 11-15-2014 at 08:31 AM..
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. He speaks of his "hood" as a place where you might get "murdered just because". He also talks about "throwing up sets" and to be careful where he lives because they "kill here" 
This makes no sense. It's like being from Benning Road and claiming Trinidad in NE DC. Claiming a rival hood can get you killed in any city in America. It's called being a turf hopper where I'm from in the Bay Area. 
The overall personal crime risk in Gaithersburg (which includes murder, robbery, property crime etc.) is much, much, much lower than the national average. 
I grew up in the hood and the beauty of Rap music was that it exposed the world to the very real inequalities and struggles of life in the ghetto that would be unknown to everyone around the world otherwise. 
