Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on the word "ghetto" (as used in the United States). Part III showcases Too $hort's Hip Hop song "The Ghetto". Information about and selected comments from that sound file's discussion thread are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/war-world-is-ghetto-information.html
for Part II of this series.
Part II presents information about the Funk band "War" and showcases that band's 1972 song "The World Is A Ghetto". Selected comments from that sound file's discussion thread are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-united-states-meaning-of-word.html for Part I of this series.
Part I presents definitions of the word "ghetto" from urbandictionary.com and selected comments from a dailykos article about comments that Senator Bernie Sanders made about African Americans and "ghettos".
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
Thanks to Too $hort for his performance of this Hip Hop track. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of this example on YouTube.
Additional Black cultural songs whose titles include the word "ghetto" or words with that same meaning will be showcased on pancocojams at a later date.
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INFORMATION ABOUT TOO $HORT
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Short
"Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966),[1][2] better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper, producer, and actor. He is best known for his hit songs like "The Ghetto" and "Blow the Whistle". Too Short is one of the very few musicians to have been able to collaborate with both 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. during the height of their careers.
Too Short is credited as being one of the pioneer rappers of West Coast hip hop.[1][2][3] Many of his rap lyrics are about pimping, drug use & sexual antics.[4]...
In the early 1990s his beats came from mostly a TR-808 and from mid-to-late 2000s, a TR-909 was used. In 1985, Too Short and Freddie B. formed the label Dangerous Music to regionally distribute his music and with others formed rap group The Dangerous Crew.[6] Dangerous Music became Short Records, and then Up All Nite Records. With his 1989 release, Life Is...Too Short, he began using replayed established funk riffs (rather than samples) with his beats....
Subsequent work was primarily collaborative, including work with Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Scarface, and Pimp C. One of his notable collaborations during this period was on the track "The World Is Filled..." on the classic Notorious B.I.G. album Life After Death; he comes in on the third verse after Diddy and Biggie. Being featured on the album introduced him to a wider audience as well, due to his typical style contrasting greatly with the Mafioso theme of the album...
With the 1999 release of Can't Stay Away, Too Short fully came out of retirement and released a number of new albums within the next few years, most of them taking on a crunk or Dirty South type sound, as he had become involved in the Southern rap scene. However, he didn't totally give up on his trademark funk grooves or sexually explicit style...
In 2004, his earlier 1990 single "The Ghetto" appeared on popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. Given that this was an incredibly popular game at the time, the featuring was acclaimed as a success for Too $hort, both in publicity and in the fame generated by the song."...
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LYRICS - THE GHETTO
(Too $hort)
Talking bout the ghetto...funky funky ghetto
Trying to survive, trying to stay alive
[Chorus:]
The ghetto
The ghetto
(Talking bout the ghetto)
The ghetto
The ghetto
(Funk funky ghetto)
Even though the streets are bumpy, lights burned out
Dope fiends die with a pipe in their mouths
Old school buddies not doing it right
Every day it's the same
And it's the same every night
I wouldn't shoot you bro but I'd shoot that fool
If he played me close and tried to test my cool
Every day I wonder just how I'll die
Only thing I know is how to survive
There's only one rule in the real world
And that's to take care of you, only you and yours
Keep dealing with the hard times day after day
Might deal me some dope but then crime don't pay
Black man tried to break into my house again
Thought he got off early doing time in the pen
Even though my brothers do me just like that
I get a lot of love so I'm giving it back to the...
[Chorus]
So just peep the game and don't call it crap
Cause to me, life is one hard rap
Even though my sister smoked crack cocaine
She was nine months pregnant, ain't nothing changed
600 million on a footbal team
And her baby dies just like a dope fiend
The story I tell is so incomplete
Five kids in the house and no food to eat
Don't look at me and don't ask me why
Mama's next door getting high
Even though she's got five mouths to feed
She's rather spend her money on a H-I-T
I always tell the truth about things like this
I wonder if the mayor overlooked that list
Instead of adding to the task force send some help
Waiting on him I'd better help myself
Housing Authority and the O.P.D.
All these guns just to handle me in the...
[Chorus]
Even though they put us down and call us animals
We make real big banks and buy brand new clothes
Drive fancy cars, make love to stars
Never really saying just who we are
We use alias names like TOO $HORT
Sell you stuff you might kill for
Young kids grow up and that's all they know
Didn't teach him in school now he's slangin dope
Only thing he knows is how to survive
But will he kill another brother before he dies?
In the ghetto, you keep one eye open
All day long, just hoping and hoping
You can pay your bills and not drink too much
Then the problems of life you'll be throwing up
Like me, but you don't see
Ten years from now, where will you be?
[Chorus]
So much game in a Too $hort rap
Blacks can't be white and whites can't be black
Why you wanna act like someone else?
All you gotta do is just be yourself
We're all the same color underneath
Short Dog's in the house you'd better listen to me
Never be ashamed of what you are
Proud to be black stand tall at heart
Even though some people give you no respect
Be intelligent, when you put em in check
Cause when you're ignorant, you get treated that way
And when they throw you in jail you got nothing to say
So if you don't listen it's not my fault
I'll be getting paid while you'll be paying the cost
Sitting in the jailhouse running your mouth
While me and my peoples try to get out
[Chorus]
tp://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/toohort/theghetto.html
-snip-
Videos of this track are labeled "explicit" and "clean version". Apparently this is the clean version because there is no profanity and no "n words". The first "dope" in the lyrics is African American Vernacular English for "very good". The second "dope" is vernacular for "narcotics".
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Too $hort - The Ghetto
TooShortVEVO Uploaded on Mar 23, 2011
Too $hort's official music video for 'The Ghetto'
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS SOUND FILE'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These selected comments are given in chronological order by year starting with 2014 (although there are earlier comments). The comments may not be in consecutive order. I've assigned numbers for referencing purposes only.
These comments are about American [United States] ghettos.
2015
1. Pendejo
"I've never seen a "ghetto." I think they're a myth."
**
Reply
2. lycibin
"+Pendejo wut dude"
**
Reply
3. Pendejo
"+Sillycibin I'm not being silly. Overtime I see a "ghetto," it's on TV."
**
Reply
4. Sillycibin
"+Pendejo where do u live lol"
**
Reply
5. Pendejo
"+Sillycibin Right now, Santa Barbara, California."
**
Reply
6. Sillycibin
"+Pendejo oh well they do exist"
**
Reply
7. Pendejo
"+Sillycibin What? You ain't from a ghetto, so how do you know?"
**
Sillycibin
"+Pendejo i live in nyc theres a lot of ghettos"
**
Reply
8. Pendejo
"+Sillycibin What? I've been to NYC and it was awesome! No ghettos though."
**
Reply
9. Voluseraptor
"+Pendejo lmaoo
you went to NYC, but that's like the bit they show the tourists or whatever
Not all of NYC is flashy lights, bro."
**
Reply
10. Sillycibin
"+Voluseraptor yeah brownsville and east new york brooklyn are [profanity deleted] rough dude theres like a murder every day"
**
[additional comments not included]
Reply
11. E. Rizzy Productions
"California ain't got ghettos like the east coast. Try west baltimore or camden nj. Nyc"
**
Reply
12. Ivan Iliev
"+Pendejo Dude ghettos are real.... I live near one it's pretty much described in the video how it is in one ghetto."
**
Reply
13. Pendejo
"+Ivan Iliev Are you going to leave it?"
**
Reply
14. Ivan Iliev
"Man i live near it. Wow. Im happy to not live there. Its bad here where i live too, but still.. The ghetto is full of some gangs, so if you go there at night you probably will get robbed. I dont live in it :D But still i live in poor area."
**
Reply
15. E. Rizzy Productions
"+HyptroxGaming K, let me rephrase. Cali got some real ghettos, and theyre just as hard as east coast, but they look way different. A lot of west coast ghettos might not even look like a ghetto if ur just rollin through and u dont know the area. In bmore and detroit and atlanta, ghettos got lots of prarrie and abandoned houses and sh_t*, so u know its a bad area even if youve never been there before."
-snip-
*This word is completely spelled in this comment.
**
Reply
16. RISQUE1963
"+Pendejo If only they were a myth. But don't worry. The way the US, Russia, China are going these days, the whole world is about to be a ghetto, bought to you live and in living color."
**
Reply
17. dylan heaney
"+Pendejo Go to Compton or Detroits urban areas then you will see"
**
[additional comments not included]
Reply
18. DR-Loc
"+Pendejo Every state has at least one or 2 ghettos(yes that includes places like nampa, or caldwell idaho, I live there, and we have norte, and IDK what the opposing gang is called.)"
**
2016
19. Reply
$quirrel $cott
"Every state has ghettos"
**
Reply
20. Pendejo
"+Duke $cott Even Florida?"
**
Reply
21. Benji Hit Em Up
"Detroit bro exhibit A"
**
Reply
22. Jamal Jewel
"Pendejo are you serious man"
**
Reply
23. Pendejo
"+Jamal Jewel Yes, I was pretty sheltered through no fault of my own."
**
Reply
24. Jamal Jewel
"+Pendejo okay I can understand that but yes the ghetto is no myth and I advise to not go into a ghetto especially one that is ran by gangs cause you will get ate alive no disrespect"
**
Reply
25. Pendejo
"+Jamal Jewel Got it!
But why do the movies make it look so cool?"
**
Reply
26. Jamal Jewel
"+Pendejo because it's Hollywood"
**
Reply
27. br pulido
"Lol funny guy"
**
Reply
28. Verbal AK Spray
"+Pendejo Come over to the south side of Chicago we'll show you the ghetto lmao"
**
Reply
29. new warleans-EBK
"+Pendejo come eo new orleans"
**
Reply
30.KadoDeDioZ
"+E. Rizzy Productions youve never been to cali have you?"
**
Reply
31. B. Anthony
"Just drive to east Oakland and back"
**
Reply
32. dizefx
"+Pendejo Ha"
**
Reply
33. AlejoLoquendero Videos de Gta Sa! (Alejo Loquendero)
"Pendejo xD"
**
Reply
34. Maddie smith
"+Pendejo i went to a ghetto in washington when i visited the usa! drove passed it but the tour guide wouldnt let me get out."
**
Reply
35. new warleans-EBK
"+Maddie smith if you get a chance come to new orleans LA they got the toughest hoods in america"
**
Reply
36. Billy The mf kidd Mattu
"+new warleans-EBK you really can't say that you haven't been to every hood in America how would you know?"
**
Reply
37. new warleans-EBK
"+Billy The mf kidd Mattu i looked up the worst projects in america and 2 new orleans projects was number 1 and number 2 and i been to alot of cities and alot of hoods outside of nola.. and new orleans was always the murder capital until recently chicago took it . but i seen it with my own 2 eyes new orleans aint nothing nice"
-snip-
End of that comment exchange to date
**
J Gamez
38. "I grew up in the ghetto, and let me tell you somthing. The people in teghetto were true no gimmiks, they were pure heart. Now that i am in with so called educated people. They are fake, no life. Sad."
**
Reply
39. EsechavaHD
"U crazy, when I [profanity deleted] lived in the ghetto it was nothing but [profanity deleted] annoying ass drama
**
Reply
40. flee hops
"+J Gamez Nothing good with a real ass ghetto. They back you up until you get real good money, then you a snitch and they rob you."
-snip-
The word "ass" in the phrase "annoying ass drama" and "real ass ghetto" is an intensifier - a word that increases the word that comes before it. "Annoying ass" means very annoying. Real ass means "definitely real"...
"snitch" is someone who gives information about someone who did something wrong to the police or to someone else in authority
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This concludes Part III of this series.
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