pancocojams: chocolate city

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Tuesday, August 12, 2025

How The Washington D.C. Children's Foot Stomping "Chocolate City" Traveled To Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Part IV [2025 Complete Reprint]

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part IV of a four part pancocojams series about the African American term "chocolate city".

This post presents an example of a foot stomping cheer called "Chocolate City" which my daughter Tazi Hughes collected at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania summer camp in 1992 from a Washington D. C. girl who was visiting her cousins in Pittsburgh. This post is an excerpt of a 2016 pancocojams post entitled "How I Started Collecting Examples Of African American Foot Stomping Cheers" https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/when-i-started-collecting-examples-of.html .

This post presents the percentages of Black people in 67 cities in the United States that have a population of over 100,000 people. (according to the United States Census Bureau, 2020 census). These cities can be considered "chocolate cities" based on an expanded definition of that term which began around the mid 20th century as a nickname for Washington, D.C.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-parliaments-chocolate-city-1975.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube sound file of the Parliament's 1975 Funk record "Chocolate City". Information about the Parliaments and their "Chocolate City" album & single is included in this post. Lyrics for the parliaments' record "Chocolate City" are also included in this pancocojams post along with some explanations of some of those lyrics.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/youtube-commenters-write-about-which.html
for Part II of this pancocojams series. This post showcases a sound file of the Parliament's Funk 1975 record "Chocolate City" and presents selected comments from several YouTube discussion threads of that record. Most of those comments refer to United States cities that were considered "chocolate city in the 1970s and/or now.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/united-states-top-chocolate-cities.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents the percentages of Black people in 67 cities in the United States that have a population of over 100,000 people. (according to the United States Census Bureau, 2020 census). These cities can be considered "chocolate cities" based on an expanded definition of that term which began around the mid 20th century as a nickname for Washington, D.C.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown person/s who composed this cheer, thanks to all those who contributed this foot stomping cheer, and thanks to Tazi Hughes for collecting this foot stomping cheer.
-snip-
This is a complete reprint of this 2022 pancocojams post. No comments have been posted to the discussion thread for that post as of August 12, 2025.

I was motivated to reprint this post in large part because of Trump's announcement on August 11, 2025 that he was federalizing the Washington D.C. national guard.

Click https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/11/us/trump-news "Trump Orders National Guard to Washington and Takeover of Capital’s Police".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/08/videos-of-washington-dc-protests-august.html for the pancocojams post "Videos Of Washington DC Protests August 11 & 12, 2025 (After Trump Announces That He'll Seize Control Of D.C.'s Police And Will Deploy That City's National Guard)".

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE

This excerpt focuses on the "Chocolate City" cheer. "Chocolate City" is an example of a foot stomping cheer that a visitor from one city in the United States brought to another city in that country and -at least for a short time-was passed on to other girls after its initial introduction,

I first became aware of the foot stomping cheer "Chocolate City" when my daughter collected an example of that cheer in 1992 from school age Black girls who attended Lillian Taylor camp in Valencia, Pennsylvania. Lillian Taylor camp sessions were sponsored by Kingsley Association, a non-profit community organization that is still based in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, Lillian Taylor camp closed in 2006.

Independent of my daughter Tazi, I later collected the exact same example of "Chocolate City" in 1999 from two Black girls who attended Fort Pitt elementary school in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood of Garfield. Garfield is located very near the much larger Pittsburgh neighborhood of East Liberty where Kingsley Association is located.

My daughter was a Fort Pitt teacher during the time that I collected the "Chocolate City" foot stomping cheer and other foot stomping cheers from Fort Pitt students. However, when I asked her, my daughter told me that she hadn't taught "Chocolate City" to anyone at Fort Pitt school or anywhere else. I therefore assume that these Fort Pitt students learned this cheer from a sibling or someone else who attended that 1992 Lillian Taylor Camp summer session seven years before.

I haven't come across any other example of the "Chocolate City" foot stomping cheer other than the one that is given in this pancocojams post.

If you remember this cheer, please share the version you remember with demographic information (particularly city/state and decade you remember it) in the comment section of this post. Thanks!

****

EXCERPT OF "HOW I STARTED COLLECTING EXAMPLES OF (MOSTLY) AFRICAN AMERICAN FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
by Azizi Powell, September 8, 2016, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/when-i-started-collecting-examples-of.html

Cassette Taping My Daughter's Cheers- mid 1980s

I first became aware of what I now called foot stomping cheers around 1985 when I observed my then twelve year old daughter and her girlfriends of similar ages chanting cheers while doing choreographed routines. I knew that my sisters, my girlfriends, and I hadn't performed cheers like that when we were children and pre-teens. And since I hadn't seen or heard those types of cheers being performed before, I wondered if this was a new form of children's recreational activity. Since I considered (and still consider) myself as an amateur community folklorist, I began recording and writing down the words to those cheers.

In those days I used the term "sidewalk cheers" to refer to the subset of children's cheerleader cheers that I now call "foot stomping cheers". Most of the "sidewalk cheers" that I collected in the mid 1980s were from my daughter Tazi [pronunciation: TAH-zee] Powell (now Hughes).

Around 1992 I asked Tazi to show me how she and her girlfriends "did" foot stomping cheers. As she demonstrated the foot stomping and alternate hand claps (or body pats), I audio recorded those performances on a cassette tape. Although I recall transcribing some portions of that tape, I misplaced those transcriptions. In 1996 I found that cassette tape, and another cheer cassette tape and I transcribed both of those tapes.

[...]

Lillian Taylor Camp: 1989-1992 [edited Nov. 11, 2022]
In the summers of 1989 - 1992 when she was still in college, my daughter Tazi served as a Kingsley Association counselor for its Lillian Taylor Camp summer sessions. Lillian Taylor Camp was a camp for children ages 5-12 years of age. The camp grounds were outside of Pittsburgh in Valencia, Pennsylvania. Most of the boys and girls who attended Kingsley Association sponsored sessions of Lillian Taylor camp were from the East End neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, including the mostly Black working class neighborhoods of East Liberty and Garfield. My daughter and I have lived in the neighborhood of East Liberty since 1978.

Kingsley Association is still located in the neighborhood of East Liberty. During the time that I directly collected foot stomping cheers My daughter taught at Fort Pitt Elementary School, and I was a substitute teacher there for a short time. Fort Pitt Elementary School closed in 2011.

In 1992 Tazi was that camp's "cheer coach". At the end of each four week segment of that camp, each group had to participate in a camp show for the entire camp, their parents, and other guests. Most of the girl groups chose to perform an example of a foot stomping cheer. In her role as cheer coach, Tazi either taught those groups foot stomping cheers from the mid 1980s or helped them decide on a cheer to perform that a member or some members of their group already knew. She would then help the members of each group learn the words to their cheer and also supervise them while they practiced the cheer's foot stomping routine (as all members of the group had to perform together, and not just those who were "good at keeping on beat").

In her role as cheer coach, Tazi heard some of the same exact cheers that she and her girlfriends did in the mid 1980s. She also learned different versions of those old cheers. And she learned cheers that were completely new to her. Knowing about my interest in what I then called "sidewalk cheers", Tazi received permission to audio tape some examples of those cheers. She then played that cassette tape for me, and demonstrated those cheers' foot stomping/hand clapping routines. I also attended one camp show and saw the campers perform some of those cheers. Although I believe that I recorded that tape in 1992, I didn't transcribe those cheers from that tape until 1996.

Having campers from various Pittsburgh neighborhoods was one way that cheers were spread from one Pittsburgh community to another. In addition, campers learned examples of cheers that came from other cities. In 1992 one of the girls who attended Lillian Taylor Camp was from Washington, D.C. and was visiting her Pittsburgh cousin. That's how the cheer "Chocolate City" found its way into my cheer collection:

CHOCOLATE CITY*
All: Chock-let City.
Chock chock-let City.
Chock-let City.
Chock Chock-let City.
Soloist #1: My name is [girl says her name or nickname]
And I'm walkin.
Group: She's walkin.
Soloist #1: I'm talkin.
Group: She's talkin.
Soloist #1: I'M TALKIN TO [girls stop using first step beat]
All the boys in Chock-let City [begin new faster tempo step beat]
Get down to the nitty gritty.
Long time no see.
Sexy as I wanna be.
Some hittin me high.
Some hittin me low.
Some hittin me on my-
Don't ask what.
Group: What?
Soloist #1: My b-u-tt butt
That's what.

Repeat from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname. Continue this pattern until every girl in the group has had one chance as the soloist with this cheer.
-T.M.P, tape recording of African American girl campers, 1992.(Lillian Taylor Camp)
-snip-
* "Chocolate City" is the nickname for "Washington, D.C."
-snip-
Tazi told me that some campers wanted to say "Pittsburgh City" instead of "Chocolate City". But they were out voted.

Note that I collected the exact same words for "Chocolate City" in 1999 from Chatauqua (African American female, 10 year old) & Ralene (African American female, 12 years old , both from the Garfield section of Pittsburgh, PA, (at Fort Pitt School); Fort Pitt School was in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. Garfield is very near the East Liberty neighborhood were my family lived (and where I still live). Furthermore, the majority of Lillian Taylor campers were from East Liberty as that was (and still is) where Kingsley Association, the organization that owned that camp, was/is based.

My daughter Tazi was a teacher at Fort Pitt Elementary school in 1999 when I collected this cheer. I wasn't a substitute teacher at that school until 2007 and we didn't begin Fort Pitt's Alafia Children's Ensemble program* until 2003. In any event, Tazi indicated that she didn't teach anyone at Fort Pitt School that "Chocolate City" cheer and she was surprised to learn that any students in that school knew that cheer. I have never read or heard that cheer anywhere else and I think it's very likely that those two girls learned "Chocolate City" from someone who attended that particular Lillian Taylor camp session, or from someone who learned that cheer from an attendee of that 1992 camp session."
-end of 2016 excerpt-
-snip-
*Alafia Children's Ensemble (Braddock, Pennsylvania): 2002 - 2004 was one of the ways that I collected foot stomping cheers. I wrote this portion of this post in 2016 for the pancocojams "How I Started Collecting Foot Stomping Cheers" post:
"From around 2002 until around the end of 2004, I received Pittsburgh multicultural Initiative grants to organize and co-led (with my daughter Tazi Powell) a children's group that I named "Alafia Children's Ensemble". This first "chapter" of Alafia Children's Ensemble was located in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Braddock is about forty minutes from my home in Pittsburgh. Braddock's Alafia sessions were held for one and a half hour, one evening a week and consisted of two groups that shared a beginning assembly and an ending assembly. One group learned and performed traditional and adapted African American game songs. Members of this group were encouraged to share examples of rhymes and cheers that they knew with the possibility that those examples would become part of the group's performance repertoire. Members of Braddock's Alafia game song & cheers component were mostly African American and mostly girls ages 5-12 years. The other half of Braddock's Alafia group consisted of a beginners' djembe (African drum) class. Although it wasn't designed that way, every member of that component were African American boys between the ages of 8-12 years."...

****
Do you remember the "Chocolate City" foot stomping cheer?
If so, please share the words to the version of that cheer that you remember in the comment section below. Also, please include demographic information such as when [year or decade] you first chanted or heard this cheer, where (city/state) you lived when you first chanted or heard that cheer, and any other information (such as your race and gender and the age you were) when you first learned or heard that cheer.) Thanks!.

This concludes Part IV of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Friday, November 11, 2022

How The Washington D.C. Children's Foot Stomping "Chocolate City" Traveled To Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Part IV

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update- Augsut 12, 2025 [correction of dates for school and camp closings]

This is Part IV of a four part pancocojams series about the African American term "chocolate city".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown person/s who composed this cheer, thanks to all those who contributed this foot stomping cheer, and thanks to Tazi Hughes for collecting this foot stomping cheer.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/08/how-washington-dc-childrens-foot.html for a complete reprint of this post. As of August 12, 2025, there are three comments (posted by me) in that post's discussion thread.

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Although the title of the 2016 pancocojams post that I am excerpting is "How I started collecting examples of African American Foot Stomping Cheers", that post also includes examples of cheers that my daughter Tazi Hughes (then TMP) shared with me and collected without me being present.

This excerpt focuses on the "Chocolate City" cheer. "Chocolate City" is an example of a foot stomping cheer that was disseminated from one city in the United States to another by a visitor to that city, and -at least for a short time-was passed on to other girls after its initial introduction,

Independent of my daughter Tazi, I later collected the exact same example of "Chocolate City" in 1999 from two Black girls who attended Fort Pitt elementary school in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood of Garfield. Garfield is located very near the much larger Pittsburgh neighborhood of East Liberty where Kingsley Association is located.

My daughter was a Fort Pitt teacher during the time that I collected the "Chocolate City" foot stomping cheer and other foot stomping cheers from Fort Pitt students. However, when I asked her, my daughter told me that she hadn't taught "Chocolate City" to anyone at Fort Pitt school or anywhere else. I therefore assume that these Fort Pitt students learned this cheer from a sibling or someone else who attended that 1992 Lillian Taylor Camp summer session seven years before.

I haven't come across any other example of the "Chocolate City" foot stomping cheer other than the one that is given in this pancocojams post. If you remember this cheer, please share the version you remember with demographic information (particularly city/state and decade you remember it) in the comment section of this post. Thanks!

****

Lillian Taylor Camp: 1989-1992 [edited Nov. 11, 2022]
In the summers of 1989 - 1992 when she was still in college, my daughter Tazi served as a Kingsley Association counselor for its Lillian Taylor Camp summer sessions. Lillian Taylor Camp was a camp for children ages 5-12 years of age. The camp grounds were outside of Pittsburgh in Valencia, Pennsylvania. Most of the boys and girls who attended Kingsley Association sponsored sessions of Lillian Taylor camp were from the East End neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, including the mostly Black working class neighborhoods of East Liberty and Garfield. My daughter and I have lived in the neighborhood of East Liberty since 1978.

Kingsley Association is still located in the neighborhood of East Liberty. During the time that I directly collected foot stomping cheers My daughter taught at Fort Pitt Elementary School, and I was a substitute teacher there for a short time. Fort Pitt Elementary School closed in 2011.

In 1992 part of Tazi's responsibilities was to serve as the camp's "cheer coach". At the end of each four week segment of that camp, each group had to participate in a camp show for the entire camp, their parents, and other guests. Most of the girl groups chose to perform an example of a foot stomping cheer. In her role as cheer coach, Tazi either taught those groups foot stomping cheers from the mid 1980s or helped them decide on a cheer to perform that a member or some members of their group already knew. She would then help the members of each group learn the words to their cheer and also supervise them while they practiced the cheer's foot stomping routine (as all members of the group had to perform together, and not just those who were "good at keeping on beat").

In her role as cheer coach, Tazi heard some of the same exact cheers that she and her girlfriends did in the mid 1980s. She also learned different versions of those old cheers. And she learned cheers that were completely new to her. Knowing about my interest in what I then called "sidewalk cheers", Tazi received permission to audio tape some examples of those cheers. She then played that cassette tape for me, and demonstrated those cheers' foot stomping/hand clapping routines. I also attended one camp show and saw the campers perform some of those cheers. Although I believe that I recorded that tape in 1992, I didn't transcribe those cheers from that tape until 1996.

Having campers from various Pittsburgh neighborhoods was one way that cheers were spread from one Pittsburgh community to another. In addition, campers learned examples of cheers that came from other cities. In 1992 one of the girls who attended Lillian Taylor Camp was from Washington, D.C. and was visiting her Pittsburgh cousin. That's how the cheer "Chocolate City" found its way into my cheer collection:

CHOCOLATE CITY*
All: Chock-let City.
Chock chock-let City.
Chock-let City.
Chock Chock-let City.
Soloist #1: My name is [girl says her name or nickname]
And I'm walkin.
Group: She's walkin.
Soloist #1: I'm talkin.
Group: She's talkin.
Soloist #1: I'M TALKIN TO [girls stop using first step beat]
All the boys in Chock-let City [begin new faster tempo step beat]
Get down to the nitty gritty.
Long time no see.
Sexy as I wanna be.
Some hittin me high.
Some hittin me low.
Some hittin me on my-
Don't ask what.
Group: What?
Soloist #1: My b-u-tt butt
That's what.

Repeat from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname. Continue this pattern until every girl in the group has had one chance as the soloist with this cheer.
-T.M.P, tape recording of African American girl campers, 1992.(Lillian Taylor Camp)
-snip-
* "Chocolate City" is the nickname for "Washington, D.C."
-snip-
Tazi told me that some campers wanted to say "Pittsburgh City" instead of "Chocolate City". But they were out voted.

Note that I collected the exact same words for "Chocolate City" in 1999 from Chatauqua (African American female, 10 year old) & Ralene (African American female, 12 years old , both from the Garfield section of Pittsburgh, PA, (at Fort Pitt School); Fort Pitt School was in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. Garfield is very near the East Liberty neighborhood were my family lived (and where I still live). Furthermore, the majority of Lillian Taylor campers were from East Liberty as that was (and still is) where Kingsley Association, the organization that owned that camp, was/is based.

My daughter Tazi was a teacher at Fort Pitt Elementary school in 1999 when I collected this cheer. I wasn't a substitute teacher at that school until 2007 and we didn't begin Fort Pitt's Alafia Children's Ensemble program* until 2003. In any event, Tazi indicated that she didn't teach anyone at Fort Pitt School that "Chocolate City" cheer and she was surprised to learn that any students in that school knew that cheer. I have never read or heard that cheer anywhere else and I think it's very likely that those two girls learned "Chocolate City" from someone who attended that particular Lillian Taylor camp session, or from someone who learned that cheer from an attendee of that 1992 camp session."
-end of 2016 excerpt-
-snip-
*Alafia Children's Ensemble (Braddock, Pennsylvania): 2002 - 2004 was one of the ways that I collected foot stomping cheers. I wrote this portion of this post in 2016 for the pancocojams "How I Started Collecting Foot Stomping Cheers" post:
"From around 2002 until around the end of 2004, I received Pittsburgh multicultural Initiative grants to organize and co-led (with my daughter Tazi Powell) a children's group that I named "Alafia Children's Ensemble". This first "chapter" of Alafia Children's Ensemble was located in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Braddock is about forty minutes from my home in Pittsburgh. Braddock's Alafia sessions were held for one and a half hour, one evening a week and consisted of two groups that shared a beginning assembly and an ending assembly. One group learned and performed traditional and adapted African American game songs. Members of this group were encouraged to share examples of rhymes and cheers that they knew with the possibility that those examples would become part of the group's performance repertoire. Members of Braddock's Alafia game song & cheers component were mostly African American and mostly girls ages 5-12 years. The other half of Braddock's Alafia group consisted of a beginners' djembe (African drum) class. Although it wasn't designed that way, every member of that component were African American boys between the ages of 8-12 years."...

****
This concludes Part IV of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

YouTube Commenters Write About Which United States Cities They Think Are "Chocolate Cities" , Part II

SoulStylistJukeBox, Sep 19, 2017

Opening track from the 1975 album of the same name.
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of  a four part pancocojams series about the African American term "chocolate city". 
This post showcases a sound file of the Parliament's Funk 1975 record "Chocolate City" and presents selected comments from several YouTube discussion threads of that record. Most of those comments refer to United States cities that were considered "chocolate city in the 1970s and/or now.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-parliaments-chocolate-city-1975.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube sound file of the Parliament's 1975 Funk record "Chocolate City". Information about the Parliaments and their "Chocolate City" album & single is included in this post. Lyrics for the parliaments' record  "Chocolate City" are also included in this pancocojams post along with some explanations of some of those lyrics. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/united-states-top-chocolate-cities.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents the percentages of Black people in 67 cities in the United States that have a population of over 100,000 people. (according to the United States Census Bureau, 2020 census). These cities can be considered "chocolate cities" based on an expanded definition of that term which began around the mid 20th century as a nickname for Washington, D.C.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/how-washington-dc-childrens-foot.html  for Part IV of this pancocojams post. That post presents an example of a foot stomping cheer called "Chocolate City" which my daughter Tazi Hughes collected at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania summer camp in 1992 from a Washington D. C. girl who was visiting her cousin in Pittsburgh.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, linguistic, historical, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Parliaments for their musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREADS FOR  TWO YOUTUBE SOUND FILES OF THE PARLIAMENT'S FUNK RECORD "CHOCOLATE CITY"
The discussion threads for these sound files are quoted in no particular order and numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
One of these comments refers to a city outside of the United States (Toronto, Canada)
DISCLAIMER 
These comments about whether a United States city was majority Black when this record was first released or is majority Black now (in 2022) may not be accurate. 

Read Part III of this pancocojams series for a list of top majority Black United States cities according to the 2020 US Census.
 
DISCUSSION THREAD #1 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZaVA3NS7zE  [This is the discussion thread for the video that is showcased in Part I of this pancocojams series.]

2012
1. Tim Russell
"lol "Were working on Atlanta"
****
2013

2. Arlene Rogers Wilhite
"prophetic song... they still call it the white house but that's a temporary condition... lol Love it!"
**
3. Capcoor
" "We just got New York I'm told."
Brooklyn and the Bronx maybe."

**
4. ebory1300
"And Toronto Canada is dark Chocolate City !!"
****
2014
5. Harry Lime
"We've got Allentown!"

**
6. Spencer Burroughs
"Yusef, I don't know what you have been reading, but you should stop reading it. CC is Washington D.C. The breakdown is white 38.5%. Hispanic 9.1% and Black 50.7%. Get yo' facts right. We here to stay."
-snip-
I couldn't find the comment that Spencer Burroughs was responding to. However, it's obvious that Yusef wrote about the changing demographics for Washington, D. C. when the Parliaments' record "Chocolate City" was first released and when his comment was written. 

**
Reply
7. D Gordon Franks, 2022
"Gentrification did its job. 
When this came out, I was living there with 80% being Black.  now it's about 30% if that.  smh"
****
2015
8. Max Voloshin
"I'm a fan from the vanilla suburbs."
**
Reply
9. Peyton B., 2020
"it's alright my white brother, we from all different hoods"
**
Reply
10. Dalton Hix, 2021
"TheGlass50, Haha.. Everything is on the one my brother. We are all connected. 
Love you👊🏿"

**
11. rawkus812indiana
"We got GARY! G.I.C.C. Detroit, Jack-Town, and the city of East St. Louis Illinois almost 
at 100%."
**
Reply
12. dyonomite reacher, 2016
"+rawkus812indiana 
What you know bout Easside"
**
Reply 
13. Capcoor, 2016
"What's G.I.C.C and Jacktown?"
**
Reply
14. Azizi Powell, 2022
"@Capcoor  I don't know the city that has (had?) the nickname G. I. C.C.
Jacktown - Jackson, Mississippi.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jacktown
**
Reply 
15. Capcoor, 2022
"Azizi Powell Gary, Indiana Chocolate City maybe."
**
Reply
17. Azizi Powell, 2022 
@Capcoor
Oh Okay Thanks. 
I can see that might be what G.I. C. C. means. But I wonder if people in Gary, Indiana ever used G.I.C.C. as a nickname for their city."
**
Reply 
18. Capcoor , 2022
"Azizi Powell Also, if I’m wrong, remember I said maybe." 
-snip- 
I responded to this comment by giving it a thumbs up.
****
2016 
19. Terrence Dorsey
"Atlanta is 100% Chocolate City now a days lol."
**
20. Vincent Thomas
"George Clinton said there would be a chocolate city in the White House"
**
21. rodneywashington51
"Well, Los Angeles is NO longer a Chocolate City. However Atlanta is definitely now Chocolate City. Lol"
**
Reply 
22. Mike Boykins 
"rodneywashington51 Atlanta have always been a chocolate city".
**
Reply
23. Chris Foster
"I'm a D.C. native and I always associate this song with Washington, D.C. and the DMV. God Bless the original Chocolate City & it's Neapolitan suburbs"
-snip-
DMV= an abbreviation for the Washington D. C, Maryland, and Virginia area which started to be used by "hiphoppers" in the early 2000s   https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/07/06/whos-responsible-for-naming-greater-washington-the-dmv/
**
Reply 
24. Samson BenYah Yahudah, 2017
@rodneywashington51 macon, ga is definitely a chocolate city"
** 
Reply 
25. Yo O, 2018 
"This song was always referring to dc lol"
**
Reply
26. robinsss, 2019
"Detroit suburbs look pretty white"

**
Reply
27, robinsss, 2019
"I think LA is  more like a Caramel city today"
****
2018
28. Jim Saunders
" No mention of Detroit?" " Get real,  Victor my cat slaps me verbally, "that's a given"!"
**
Reply
29. DeeNice681
"That's the one negative of this song!"
**
30. Carla Huckaby
"Genuis of Bernie RIP! Listen to his piano riffs and keyboard funky chords! Yess Atlanta Chocolate City today!!"
**
31. Arnold Ramson
"we had miami at one time but now the cubans got it now"
** 
32. Keith Dixon
"Detroit #...1 chocolate City"
**
Reply 
33. Washington DC, 2019
"Detroit is whatever Detroit is chocolate City belongs to Washington DC 
you have to come up with your own name 🙄"
**
Reply 
34. g dawg, 2019
"Yeah, but in the 70s we were on TOP in Detroit!  Not just existing! posted as
over 80%.  Reality, 110% , and in top, running things good."

**
35. Kim Whitmore
"Heeeeey.......... C.C........cleveland on the east side....."

****

2019

****
2020
36. Christopher Miller
"Lol working on Atlanta... time tells the story!"

** 
37, A. Taylor 
"Listening to this in 2020, it's interesting to hear him say back then "We're working on Atlanta!" "

** Reply 38, Soluchi {Michael Jackson Lookalike, Dancer, VFX}, 2022
"Mission Accomplished."
** 39. Jerry Flynn Dale
"This entire album was recorded in Detroit, Michigan, #fact

The real Chocolate city!"
**
Reply
40. Johnny Israel, 2022
"D.C. the real chocolate city"

**
Reply
41. Jerry Flynn Dale, 2022
"@Johnny Israel the blackest city in America is Detroit, Michigan, period.

Not county city.

25% of America’s GNP comes across the Detroit River, facts."

**
Reply
42. Jerry Flynn Dale, 2022
" @Johnny Israel , there is not one Subsection of Prince George county that is bigger than the city of Detroit."
-snip-
"Prince George county" is the county where Washington D. C. is located.

**
Reply
43. Jerry Flynn Dale, 2022
" @Johnny Israel , on CC, George Clinton, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin we’re all from Detroit, lol."
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Reply
44. Juan Chavez, 2022
"@Jerry Flynn Dale george from jersey"

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Reply
45. Jerry Flynn Dale, 2022
"@Juan Chavez , that’s very true, however, all George’s records were recorded in Detroit, Michigan.

#facts"

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46. Thom Ford
"Forgot, I think DC's Population was about 80% African American at the time...Now about 45%. That Vanilla Suburbs is now 60% or more, well PG County is........."

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2021 47. Clemmie Bell "L.A.?

Only south central
Whites have the West side and the valley"
****

2022
48. Ernie Carey
"Pittsburgh is now a CC"

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Reply
49. Azizi Powell
"@Ernie Carey, here's some explanation for your comment for folks who aren't from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 
Ed Gainey was elected the mayor of Pittsburgh in 2021. Ed Gainey is a Democrat and he's the first Black person to ever be elected mayor of that city. 
But only 23% of residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are Black (and Pittsburgh's suburbs are mostly White. Only around 13% of the people living in Allegheny County where Pittsburgh is located are Black. 
So Pittsburgh isn't a chocolate city using the definition that I believe Parliament used (a city with majority Black population.
That said, as a Pittsburgher I can dig where you're coming from."
**
50. Johnny. Murphree 
"You.Also Have Birmingham Alabama and Prichard  Ala. the Two Chocolate Cities"
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DISCUSSION THREAD #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdDhV1U9B2I1. Keith Dixon, 2018
"We still got OaklLand..."
**
Reply
2. Lioness Of Judah, 2018 
"Keith Dixon we already got ATLANTA"

**
Reply
3. Ritchie Smith, 2019
"We got Richmond VA, Jackson Mississippi, and we're working on Greensboro NC"

**
Reply 
4. john thebastard, 2020
"They definitely got Atlanta"
**
5. Jerry Flynn Dale, 2020
"And we got Detroit, where this music was recorded at!!!!
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

The Parliaments - "Chocolate City" 1975 Funk Record (Part I - sound file, information, lyrics, & explanations)

onehomes, August 8, 2012

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update: Nov. 10, 2022

This is Part I of a four part pancocojams series about the African American term "chocolate city".

This post showcases a YouTube sound file of the Parliament's 1975 Funk record "Chocolate City". Information about the Parliaments and their "Chocolate City" album & single is included in this post. Lyrics for the parliaments' record "Chocolate City" are also included in this pancocojams post along with some explanations of some of those lyrics.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/youtube-commenters-write-about-which.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a sound file of the Parliament's Funk 1975 record "Chocolate City" and presents selected comments from two YouTube discussion threads for that record. Most of these selected comments refer to United States cities that were considered "chocolate cities" in the mid1970s and/or are considered to be "chocolate cities" now (in the 2020s).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/united-states-top-chocolate-cities.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents the percentages of Black people in 67 cities in the United States that have a population of over 100,000 people. (according to the United States Census Bureau, 2020 census). These cities can be considered "chocolate cities" based on an expanded definition of that term which began around the mid 20th century as a nickname for Washington, D.C.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/how-washington-dc-childrens-foot.html for Part IV of this pancocojams post. That post presents an example of a foot stomping cheer called "Chocolate City" which my daughter Tazi Hughes collected at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania summer camp in 1992 from a Washington D. C. girl who was visiting her cousin in Pittsburgh.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, linguistic, historical, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Parliaments for their musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARLIAMENTS AND THEIR CHOCOLATE CITY ALBUM & SINGLE
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parliaments
"The Parliaments were an American vocal quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, United States. Originally formed in the back room of a barbershop in 1956, the quintet was named after the cigarette brand. The Parliaments initially performed doo-wop music; after some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was group leader and manager, and part owner of the barbershop where the group convened to entertain customers. The group later changed its style, evolving into the bands Parliament and Funkadelic, which found success in the 1970s.

[...]

In 1967 the Parliaments released "(I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot and finally achieved a hit single, with the song reaching No. 3 R&B and No. 20 Pop on the Billboard charts. In reality, Clinton was the only member of the Parliaments to appear in the song, as the other members were unable to travel to Detroit for the recording session (session singers and musicians rounded out the recording). To capitalize on the single's success, Clinton put together a backing band for a tour, expanding the Parliaments to the five singers plus five backing musicians.

After the success of "(I Wanna) Testify", Clinton became embroiled in a contractual dispute surrounding the bankruptcy of Revilot Records and temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments." In order to continue recording for other labels, Clinton renamed the entire ensemble Funkadelic (a name coined by bassist Billy Bass Nelson). Clinton positioned Funkadelic as a funk-rock band featuring the five backing musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. When Revilot declared bankruptcy the Parliaments were sold to Atlantic Records, and Clinton abandoned doo-wop to avoid working for Atlantic. Even with Funkadelic operating as a recording and touring entity, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the Parliaments as a new R&B-based funk band, now known as Parliament. The lineup still consisted of the five original singers plus the five backing musicians, with the two acts signed to different labels and marketed as performing different types of funk."...

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Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_City_(album)
"Chocolate City is the third album by the funk band Parliament, released in 1975. It was a "tribute to Washington D.C.",[9] where the group had been particularly popular. The album's cover includes images of the United States Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial in the form of a chocolate medallion, as well as sticker labeled "Washington DC". The album was very popular in the capitol city, selling 150,000 copies alone there."...

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Excerpt #3
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_City_(song)
"Chocolate City" is a song by the funk band Parliament, the lead track of their 1975 album of the same name. It was also released as a two-part single, the first from the album.

Background

The song's largely spoken vocals (delivered by George Clinton) express pride in "Chocolate Cities", that is, cities with a majority black population. The song also reflects on the solidarity of African-American society at the time. The singer playfully hypothesizes what it would be like if there were an African American in the White House"...

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Excerpt #4
From https://www.nyu.edu/washington-dc/academics/special-programs/welcome-to-chocolate-city.html#:~:tex New York University/Washington, D.C.
"The District of Columbia became the first majority Black major city in the United States in 1957. Over time, as the Black population grew, it subsequently became known as the nation’s “Chocolate City,” a name conferred by a popular funk song shortly after the passage of the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act in 1973 and proudly embraced by Washingtonians.* While the city’s Black population today is now less than 45% partly as a result of economic policies and gentrification, the history and legacy of DC’s central Black culture, power, and identity remain significant forces. These co-curricular offerings, in conjunction with other webinars and programs constructed throughout the semester, will provide a contextual historical illustration of Washington, DC and the roots of Chocolate City today that continue to bolster the Black power movement."
-snip-
This is the preface to several virtual webinars such as Welcome to Chocolate City , Sept. 4, 2020 https://www.nyu.edu/washington-dc/academics/special-programs/welcome-to-chocolate-city/welcome-to-chocolate-city.html and The Future of Chocolate City, March 23, 2021 https://www.nyu.edu/washington-dc/academics/special-programs/welcome-to-chocolate-city/the-future-of-chocolate-city.html
-snip-
*This statement is confusing. If it means that the members of the Parliaments band were the first people to call Washington, D.C. 'Chocolate City", then I believe that statement is probably false. If this statement means that the Parliaments greatly help popularize Washington, D. C.'s nickname "Chocolate City" then I believe that statement is true.

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LYRICS - CHOCOLATE CITY

(The Parliaments; produced by George Clinton, )

[Verse 1]

Uh, what's happening CC?
They still call it the White House
But that's a temporary condition, too
Can you dig it, CC?

To each his reach
And if I don't cop, it ain't mine to have
But I'll be reachin' for ya
Cause I love ya, CC
Right on

There's a lot of chocolate cities, around
We've got Newark, we've got Gary
Somebody told me we got L.A.
And we're working on Atlanta
But you're the capital, CC

[Refrain]

Gainin' on ya
Get down
Gainin' on ya
Movin' in and on ya
Gainin' on ya
Can't you feel my breath, heh
Gainin' on ya
All up around your neck, heh heh

[Verse 2]

Hey, CC
They say you're jivin' game, it can't be changed
But on the positive side
You're my piece of the rock
And I love you, CC
Can you dig it?

Hey, uh, we didn't get our forty acres and a mule
But we did get you, CC, heh, yeah
Gainin' on ya
Movin' in and around ya
God bless CC and it's vanilla suburbs

[Refrain]

Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
What's happening, blood?
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya

[Verse 3]

Yeah
What's happening, black?
Brother black, blood even
Yeah-ahh, just funnin'
Gettin' down

Ah, blood to blood
Ah, players to ladies
The last percentage count was eighty
You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot
Are you up for the downstroke, CC?
Chocolate City
Are you with me out there?

And when they come to march on ya
Tell 'em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House
Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of fine arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady
Are you out there, CC?
A chocolate city is no dream
It's my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC
God bless Chocolate City and it's
(gainin' on ya!) vanilla suburbs
Can y'all get to that?

[Refrain]
Gainin' on ya
Easin' in
Gainin' on ya!
In yo' stuff
Gainin' on ya
Huh, can't get enough
Gainin' on ya
Gainin' on ya
Be mo' funk, be mo' funk
Gainin' on ya
Can we funk you too?
Gainin' on ya
Right on, Chocolate City

[Outro]

Yeah, get deep
Real deep
Heh
Be mo' funk
Mmmph, heh
Get deep
Bad
Unh, heh
Just got New York, I'm told

online source: https://genius.com/Parliament-chocolate-city-lyrics

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES: SOME EXPLANATIONS OF SOME OF THE LYRICS FOR THE PARLIAMENTS' SONG "CHOCOLATE CITY"

In the Parliament's Funk song "Chocolate City", the term "chocolate city" refers to cities in the United States that have a majority Black population.

Most of the song refers to a (fictional) political race that takes place between a Black team and a White team of runners and/or swimmers*. The Black team is represented by the song's rapper and the group of singers/rappers backing him. The goal is for the Black team to catch up with the White team that is in the lead. The Black team's challenge is to move cities into the majority Black column (i.e. to make them "chocolate cities".)

The White team wants actual cities in the United States to remain majority White cities. However, the Black team is working to turn actual cities in the United State to be majority Black (i.e. "chocolate cities").

In certain portions of the song the Black team leader braggingly addresses the White team that is in the lead, for instance in the lines
" Gainin' on ya

Easin' in
Gainin' on ya!

In yo' stuff"
-end of quote-

"Gainin on ya" means "catching up with you".

*I wrote that the fictional race in this song (or portions of this race) may be about swimmers because of the line "Are you up for the downstroke, CC?" (The "downstroke" is a swimming movement). However, are you up to the downstroke" may just be a witty way of saying "Are you down with that?" meaning "Are you in agreeance with what I just said?

**
An alternative interpretation is given in https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/parliament-chocolate-city-album/ Chocolate City’: How Parliament Built A True Funk Classic

From the title track to the final fade, ‘Chocolate City’ kicks ass and provided the foundations for George Clinton and Parliament’s next funk masterpiece.
by Ian McCann, April 8, 2022
..."Just so you get the message, “Chocolate City” the song begins proceedings in its own unique way. This is funk without relying on drums or beats, particularly; the tune snakes through the state of underground black America, 1975, laying claim to Washington, DC, on the basis of population breakdown, but treating it like the results of the ballot unfolding on an election night: “We just got New York, I’m told,” “Don’t be surprised if Muhammad Ali is in the White House,” and the name of that building is “just a temporary condition.” They don’t call it DC, they call it CC."...
-snip-
I added italics to highlight this sentence.

.
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The song doesn't lists all of the United States cities in 1975 that were majority Black, and some of the cities that are mentioned in that song actually didn't have a majority Black population in the 1970s - LA (Los Angeles, California) and New York City, New York.

**
"vanilla suburbs": "Cc's vanilla suburbs are the suburbs (surrounding communities) of Washington D. C. which whose populations [in 1975] were predominately White.

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"They still call it the White House/ But that's a temporary condition, too": I believe that this alludes to the "plan" to rename the White House "the Black House" when Black people are the official leaders and administrators of the federal government.

**
"The last percentage count was eighty": This line refers to the percentage of Black people in Washington. D. C. when this Parliament record was composed and first performed. Although that may not have been the exact percentage of that population in 1975, there's no doubt that the majority of people living in D.C. at that time were Black.

"You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot": We don't need to use weaponry to take over the government since we can do that by moving to a particular city and voting there.

**
James Brown pass = a fictional permit to hold demonstrations (marches) in a chocolate city; The pass is named after the actual R&B singer James Brown, one of whose nicknames was "The Godfather of Soul".

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"we didn't get our forty acres and a mule" - a promise that was said to have been made to enslaved Black people who were freed at the end of the US Civil War that wasn't honored."

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"What's happening, black?" - "What's happening" was a commonly used African American Vernacular English way of greeting someone in the 1970s. In this song the question "What's happening" may also have its concurrent literal meaning.

**
"Blood", "Black", "Brother Black" : colloquial referents for Black people (and not referents for the Bloods gang.)

**
Can you dig it?: 1970s African American Vernacular English way of saying: Do you understand?/ Do you agree?

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

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