• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Black Culture Thread

RedSwirl

Junior Member
-Military Family, but all my relatives are from Arkansas (the far eastern corner of Arkansas that borders Tennessee forming the western edge of America's "Black Belt"). Probably not too different from the people you'd meet in Memphis.

-Northern Virginia

-No idea about cultural history beyond 3 or 4 generations back. My dad has some Cherokee back there somewhere (his mother was very Native American in appearance but otherwise Black), but really no idea.

-25 years old this summer.

-Rap, certain Jazz influences.

-Journalism, particularly games writing (ha ha).

-Got baptized southern baptist a few years back but pretty much secular. Parents both grew up in church.

-Being at GAF, you can pretty much guess what my main hobby is. I slowly abandoned my other hobbies over the years.


Any other military children in this thread? I think that tends to color a person culturally as much as anything else. There are other men in our family in the military, but I think my brother and I are almost the only members of our family who DIDN'T grow up in my Parents' home state.
 

Kaizer

Banned
Military brat here. My parents actually met in the military and I'm the main reason they got out. Technically I'm from Alabama, but I moved around so much during my childhood I never really had a permanent home. Lived in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas and Georgia for about 12 years now. If anything I call Georgia the place where I grew up since it's where we settled.
 

Kaizer

Banned
spindashing said:
"You're so black that if I sprinkle sugar on you, you look like deep space."

Heard that on the bus not too long ago. Damn.
Damn, that's an ether level diss right there. No chances for recovery, adding to my list.
 
AzureJericho said:
A bunch of things related to the "you don't act/sound black" (sometimes I feel like that's all I ever mention in this thread, lol) mostly because of how varied I am and how passionate I get for things that seem "not black". There was actually a time when my father could have fallen along that same line of thought (though more "you don't act Nigerian" than black) since compared to himself (and a lot of his Nigerian friends & their families) I'm a more mellow and humble guy.

There was also a side issue where thanks to my family name/skin tone there were folks who just straight up dismissed the other half of my heritage (Jamaican) thinking that I was lying about it to fit in. I mean, its just as ridiculous as it sounds and for a long time I thought it was just one of those jokes until one time when my mother showed up for a meeting I had in high school with the faculty and people were fucking mystified. Imagine a tall 6' really dark/chocolate skin guy showing up with a 5'7 light skinned woman speaking fluent English but switching in and out between that and patois with me doing the same thing. (Funfact: I can't speak patois at all unless I'm around family, it just feels off when I do. :lol)

But otherwise, there isn't really anything to do more than hope that someday you can just be fine doing or enjoying whatever without being looked down upon for not falling into rank and file.

I've never understood why people think that being Jamaican is the best thing in the world. All we have is good food.

MWS Natural said:

Never really listened to spoken word but that was good.

RedSwirl said:
Okay I never decided to post here until now. Do we still do the whole name, origin, age thing 100 pages in?

Awesome avatar, btw.
 
RedSwirl said:
Any other military children in this thread? I think that tends to color a person culturally as much as anything else. There are other men in our family in the military, but I think my brother and I are almost the only members of our family who DIDN'T grow up in my Parents' home state.

Yeah, my father was in the military. We lived all around the U.S. and in a few other countries as well (spent some time in a school alongside Europeans and Canadians). It was a fantastic experience, though I don't have a neighborhood of my own.
 

Veidt

Blasphemer who refuses to accept bagged milk as his personal savior
Speaking of hair:
Was at pakistani barber. He's cutting my hair, and he suddenly goes: "You have amazing hair! It's curly, huge curls, this is the kind of hair everyone wants in Pakistan! You are Original peoples, mate"

:smug.
 

Bleepey

Member
AzureJericho said:
A bunch of things related to the "you don't act/sound black" (sometimes I feel like that's all I ever mention in this thread, lol) mostly because of how varied I am and how passionate I get for things that seem "not black". There was actually a time when my father could have fallen along that same line of thought (though more "you don't act Nigerian" than black) since compared to himself (and a lot of his Nigerian friends & their families) I'm a more mellow and humble guy.

There was also a side issue where thanks to my family name/skin tone there were folks who just straight up dismissed the other half of my heritage (Jamaican) thinking that I was lying about it to fit in. I mean, its just as ridiculous as it sounds and for a long time I thought it was just one of those jokes until one time when my mother showed up for a meeting I had in high school with the faculty and people were fucking mystified. Imagine a tall 6' really dark/chocolate skin guy showing up with a 5'7 light skinned woman speaking fluent English but switching in and out between that and patois with me doing the same thing. (Funfact: I can't speak patois at all unless I'm around family, it just feels off when I do. :lol)

But otherwise, there isn't really anything to do more than hope that someday you can just be fine doing or enjoying whatever without being looked down upon for not falling into rank and file.

I don't understand the Jamaican light-skinned thing. I am dark-skinned, my brother is the complexion of Chris Brown, my mum told me that people think he is either mixed race or jamaican cos of it and she can't understand why. There are a shit tonne of light-skinned Igbos and in my family there are some very dark-skinned people as in like Snipes, others with the complexion of say Denzil Washington and others like Alicia Keyes.
 

DrFunk

not licensed in your state
slide_22560_272024_huge.jpg


lord have mercy
 
I like this ^

Ok, I know I keep bringing this up every now and then. I still don't like the fact when I'm at work and look at my hair and say I need a cut. Normally every 2.5-3 weeks I get a cut.

Then follows oh you don't need to cut your hair. I sometimes really don't like being the token black guy at work. You don't understand, I have semi pretty boy tendencies and I like my clean cut look. *shakes fist with trusty brush in hand*
 

Azure J

Member
ChocolateCupcakes said:
I've never understood why people think that being Jamaican is the best thing in the world. All we have is good food.

The best at that. :p

Meanwhile, I think I forgot about doing an actual intro for myself. I thought that it would have held over from the OG Black-GAF thread, but since I've only been posting here every now and again, might as well redo it:

- Born and raised in Brooklyn on September 24, 1989. Will be 22 this year. No plans for the b-day yet. :p

According to my mother and everyone I've spoken to from her side of the family, I take the absolute most after my grandfather who shared my birthday but passed away in the year I was born.

- Love all music and musical styles really, but I'd say I feel like Jazz (smooth and classic), Hip-Hop, and some bits of Reggae/Dancehall make up the things that I like most in music. I'm also a sucker for anything with a good violin or piano piece or anything with creative use of samples.

- Currently majoring in Computer Science and working towards a minor in Digital Arts, but almost at a crossroad where I'd consider jumping headlong into an Animation major. ajor career based goal for myself currently is to found a startup creative studio (currently called Transcendent/ce Entertainment :p) devoted to games and animation primarily, but can expand if I get any more motivated/feel confident in branching out. (Yeah, I'm an entrepreneur in theory.)

- All my personal religion boils down to is "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you", believing that Jesus is my savior and just being a mellow guy who works hard (or tries to at least) and puts others before himself. I don't beat people over the head with religion or my religious affinity because I don't want to be mistaken as being obnoxious even if I know I wouldn't be. I prefer to lead with action and one day should someone want to know why I'm like that then I can share with them that "yeah it's because I'm religious" and have them approach it without fear or predispositions to the "preachy" types as they'd call them. Overall I'd say I identify most with Christians though. Currently unbaptized.

- Gaming is at the forefront of my hobbies because not only is it the one I've had the longest, it's also responsible for introducing (or inspiring) me to take up most of the others I have, which include some dabbling in drawing & animation (which I would really love to make into something serious), writing (scenarios and characters mostly, I love doing them and have a folder full of them), and music including some pull towards composing (this one is new in that I'd like to dabble in something like FruityLoops and see what I'd create, nothing too grand planned there, but hey life is meant for trying things out).

- I'm not too versed in my family roots and genealogy, but my father is from Nigeria and my mother is from Jamaica. I'm closer with my mother's side of the family due to being around them all more often than I am around my father's side. This doesn't mean much though, I love my family quite a bit even if I they can make me exasperated and raging like no other human being is capable of. :lol

I'm very interested in finding out more about our family tree however and will probably go looking through it all when I get a chance to later in life.
 

Imm0rt4l

Member
Veidt said:
Speaking of hair:
Was at pakistani barber. He's cutting my hair, and he suddenly goes: "You have amazing hair! It's curly, huge curls, this is the kind of hair everyone wants in Pakistan! You are Original peoples, mate"

:smug.
Oh you somalians...
 

Azure J

Member
Urban Scholar said:
I like this ^

Ok, I know I keep bringing this up every now and then. I still don't like the fact when I'm at work and look at my hair and say I need a cut. Normally every 2.5-3 weeks I get a cut.

Then follows oh you don't need to cut your hair. I sometimes really don't like being the token black guy at work. You don't understand, I have semi pretty boy tendencies and I like my clean cut look. *shakes fist with trusty brush in hand*

You know, it's hilarious that I can seriously relate to this when I haven't gone all out with my appearance in soooo long. I need to treat myself to something soon though and get my sexy on again. :lol
 
DrFunk said:
slide_22560_272024_huge.jpg


lord have mercy

Good looking pair imo. Politics aside, I'm proud to have them be the first black family in the White House. They carry themselves with dignity and class, and make it look easy.

And I (generally) like their politics too.
 
AzureJericho said:
You know, it's hilarious that I can seriously relate to this when I haven't gone all out with my appearance in soooo long. I need to treat myself to something soon though and get my sexy on again. :lol

You'll only make the world a little more sexy brother, do it : )
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Okay how about this:

I don't know how legit this could really be, but my dad may have stumbled on a major clue to finding out where our slave name came from.

I can't remember the exact details, but while visiting home a year back I think he encountered a white farming family living not too far away that claims to have ancestors who owned slaves sharing our last name. I honestly don't know what to do with this information if this develops any further.
 
RedSwirl said:
Okay how about this:

I don't know how legit this could really be, but my dad may have stumbled on a major clue to finding out where our slave name came from.

I can't remember the exact details, but while visiting home a year back I think he encountered a white farming family living not too far away that claims to have ancestors who owned slaves sharing our last name. I honestly don't know what to do with this information if this develops any further.
I'd definitely try to get as much information as I can. It would be cool to know my exact roots. It would be weird getting said information from people who's ancestors owned my ancestors, though.
 

Kaizer

Banned
Half-and-half said:
Good looking pair imo. Politics aside, I'm proud to have them be the first black family in the White House. They carry themselves with dignity and class, and make it look easy.

And I (generally) like their politics too.
Agreed, it still weirds me out to think that a black family of four are pretty much the most important people in our country, I feel really honored to see something like this in my lifetime, regardless of whether it'll ever happen again. And it's not just about the fact that he's black, but rather that someone who's culturally diverse can be voted into power of a country built upon slavery is astounding to me still.
 

Cedric

Member
Alright I got a question, why is it that most black people (in my area) believe in all the conspiracies out there? Seriously. Facebook is flooded with my friends saying stuff like Osama never existed and shit and I swear 90% of black people are co-signin this. It's like the NWO/illuminati stuff, every goddamn black friend I got believes in that stuff. Jay-Z is the devil you don't believe it you're ignorant blablabla shit is depressing when I seem to be the only brother not walking around acting like I'm on some prophet Louis Farrakhan shit...
 

Duki

Banned
can we have the next great black comedian sometime soon

chappelle nearly did it, but then he pulled a jordan and retired too early, cept he stayed retired

what do we doooooo?

rocks still kicking it i guess
 
The current president, a man whose accomplishments when all is said and done may possibly get him named in top ranking all-time, is a black man.

That must make some people SO FUCKING SALTY.

And I love it so much.

It's feeling real good to be black right now.
 

MThanded

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
-2 helicopters went in
-two couriers and obama son are dead and a woman used as a human shield
-compound had a 12-15 foot wall, had no tv, internet or outside world connections
-1 of the helicopters had a mechanical problem and crashed into the side of the compound
-All americans survived
-Nobody knows what kind of helicopters they were using
-Osama was found by following the couriers
-A past courier had been arrested before and revealed the identity of the couriers
-Osama was killed THIS AFTERNOON

This is true boss type stuff
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Cedric said:
Alright I got a question, why is it that most black people (in my area) believe in all the conspiracies out there? Seriously. Facebook is flooded with my friends saying stuff like Osama never existed and shit and I swear 90% of black people are co-signin this. It's like the NWO/illuminati stuff, every goddamn black friend I got believes in that stuff. Jay-Z is the devil you don't believe it you're ignorant blablabla shit is depressing when I seem to be the only brother not walking around acting like I'm on some prophet Louis Farrakhan shit...

We don't believe shit man. Every third visit with my barber is some kind of rant asking why the black eight ball has to be the last ball hit by the white cue ball. Even had a video talking about how the government brainwashed Michael Jackson.

Every time there's a van outside of our house my mom thinks it's the FBI. Kind of ironic seeing as my dad has worked at the Pentagon.
 

ReiGun

Member
Cedric said:
Alright I got a question, why is it that most black people (in my area) believe in all the conspiracies out there? Seriously. Facebook is flooded with my friends saying stuff like Osama never existed and shit and I swear 90% of black people are co-signin this. It's like the NWO/illuminati stuff, every goddamn black friend I got believes in that stuff. Jay-Z is the devil you don't believe it you're ignorant blablabla shit is depressing when I seem to be the only brother not walking around acting like I'm on some prophet Louis Farrakhan shit...
Amazingly, I've noticed little of this. It's been mostly shit about gas prices or people being scared shitless at "things getting worse" (whatever that entails).

That said, I'm not one to celebrate a person's death, but good shit to Obama for getting shit done.

Edit: As soon as I typed this, I read a status about Osama dying from an illness and the US claiming credit. -_-
 

Londa

Banned
MThanded said:
-2 helicopters went in
-two couriers and obama son are dead and a woman used as a human shield
-compound had a 12-15 foot wall, had no tv, internet or outside world connections
-1 of the helicopters had a mechanical problem and crashed into the side of the compound
-All americans survived
-Nobody knows what kind of helicopters they were using
-Osama was found by following the couriers
-A past courier had been arrested before and revealed the identity of the couriers
-Osama was killed THIS AFTERNOON

This is true boss type stuff

Is it wrong for me to feel bad for the woman? I know war is ugly, and I dislike it, but :/ for the lady. Tho she could have willing decided to be his shield....

its a given that killings are ugly... am I too nice?

The Faceless Master said:
it's illegal in NYC too!

lol, well I guess the police will turn a blind eye today. XD
 
Cedric said:
Alright I got a question, why is it that most black people (in my area) believe in all the conspiracies out there? Seriously. Facebook is flooded with my friends saying stuff like Osama never existed and shit and I swear 90% of black people are co-signin this. It's like the NWO/illuminati stuff, every goddamn black friend I got believes in that stuff. Jay-Z is the devil you don't believe it you're ignorant blablabla shit is depressing when I seem to be the only brother not walking around acting like I'm on some prophet Louis Farrakhan shit...

What? Haven't seen any of this on my feed. They're crazy.
 

DrFunk

not licensed in your state
ChocolateCupcakes said:
What? Haven't seen any of this on my feed. They're crazy.

I have...suddenly everyone's a political, moral, or conspiracy expert. Then they post Plies videos. smh
 
Top Bottom