Rate This City: Day 29 - Memphis

[Sterling Archer]

It's aight...I prefer the Commissary or Central BBQ

Reese's>>>>

 

[Supper]

The state of Tennessee does everything in their power to keep it that way mainly because we're a predominantly black city, with black culture, removing the racist slave owning hunkies statue amplified their hate for us. That's why they call us "Memphrica" as their so called way of trying to dehumanize us

I almost forgot about that shyt too. Them cacs was pissed off about that shyt.

I'm sure they be on someshyt....

But, y'all do kinda stick out in TN in terms of the overall feel of the city, ya gotta admit. The culture and geography is that of a big MS delta city.

Beale st is the legendary place it is today because of MSpian migrant blues artist not native TNers. They built that shyt basically.

Lotta MS folks feel that Memphis rightfully belongs to them.

Mississippi Moving Capital from Jackson to Memphis

 

[murksiderock]

never been but I rated it a 10 cause its a chocolate city

That's the shyt I'm talking about, bro. Lol we give effusive praise to certain cities on here just for being "chocolate cities" without considering a host of other factors that make a city...

 

[Black Haven]

I almost forgot about that shyt too. Them cacs was pissed off about that shyt.

I'm sure they be on someshyt....

But, y'all do kinda stick out in TN in terms of the overall feel of the city, ya gotta admit. The culture and geography is that of a big MS delta city.

Beale st is the legendary today because of MSpian migrant blues artist not native TNers. They built that shyt basically.

Lotta MS folks feel that Memphis rightfully belongs to them.

Mississippi Moving Capital from Jackson to Memphis

Pretty much every black Memphian has roots in the sip, and that’s where we get our blues from I can’t deny that, however we taught them how to jook though

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like these Mississippi cats

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so it’s a even trade

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[Supper]

That's the shyt I'm talking about, bro. Lol we give effusive praise to certain cities on here just for being "chocolate cities" without considering a host of other factors that make a city...

From an AA perspective, having a strong culture, political, and demographic influence, presence, and importance IS important, though. It can also indirectly influence the amount of respect the AA community receives in the city even by racist.

Take Mexican ppls demeanor towards blacks in Houston TX or Oakland CA vs LA. They're a lot more bold, open, and blatantly disrespectful to blacks in LA. Part of the is because reason they see LA as *THEIR* city and blacks as guest or outsiders because their community is more established and foundational there. They overrate how much blacks in LA adopted their culture in reference to turf-banging, lowriders, and tattoos and throw that in their faces every chance they get

Whereas it's impossible for them to adopt that way of thinking about blacks in Houston or Oakland because the black communities are MUCH more influential and established than the mexican community in those places. Black people made those cities into what they are today, they fully adopt the local AA culture, while having little to no influence on the AA community themselves. They're guest and they know it no matter how large their population gets. And thus subconsciously have to give it up to AAs even if they hold racist views.

 

[Supper]

Pretty much every black Memphian has roots in the sip, and that’s where we get our blues from I can’t deny that, however we taught them how to jook though

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like these Mississippi cats

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so it’s a even trade

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Y'all def top 5 in foot workin.

Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, The Bay in no particular order.

We ain't got no shyt like that. TX dances be on some leanin shyt, like Trinity Garden drop, Southside, the Woah, Dougie etc etc. lol

 

[murksiderock]

From an AA perspective, having a strong culture, political, and demographic influence, presence, and importance IS important, though. It can also indirectly influence the amount of respect the AA community receives in the city even by racist.

Take Mexican ppls demeanor towards blacks in Houston TX or Oakland CA vs LA. They're a lot more bold, open, and blatantly disrespectful to blacks in LA. They see LA as *THEIR* city and blacks as guest or outsiders because their community is more established and foundational there. They overrate how much blacks in LA adopted their culture in reference to turf-banging, lowriders, and tattoos and throw that in their faces every chance they get

Whereas it's impossible for them to adopt that way of thinking about blacks in Houston or Oakland because the black communities are MUCH more influential and established than the mexican community in those places. Black people made those cities into what they are today, they fully adopt the local AA culture, while having little to no influence on the AA community themselves. They're guest and they know it. And thus subconsciously have to give AA respect even if they hold racist views.

Los Angeles has racial tension but it is overblown like a muhfukka. I can make the argument there's greater racial tension in Memphis, where it is much more segregated than LA, and old money white Memphis still thinks Memphis is their city to points where its beneficial...

Cats on here also seem to be ignorant on how much Mexican LA has emulated Black Angelenos...

I enjoy places with strong black influence as well. Memphis is mostly a charade though, because the black leadership in Memphis has largely failed the citizenry for decades and because of the strained race relations between black and white Memphis, they aren't enthusiastic to help black concerns and Black Memphis has shown itself to be incompetent when placed in leadership positions regarding government, education, city finances, and the police department...

White folk still control Memphis and anybody familiar with the city culture knows this. But they "left" it to us, largely, and in the process helped sabotage us and minimized their resources to is, but at the same time we haven't done ourselves many favors...

There are a number of cities that aren't as black as Memphis but have healthier black communities. That "blacker is better" is cool for some people but there are definitely holes there...

 

[Doomsday]

Real hood shyt. Perfect 10.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Never been so I can't say. But from what my cousin told me about the place, it's a 6. She went there to work for Amazon but ended up transferring to their Boston office shortly after.

 

[Tennessee Ninja]

I saw some comments on the violence in Memphis, but that is typically hood shyt that happens anywhere there's a large black community living in low income areas in the USA. Seems like a generational difference as it started with Mayor Herenton when he tore the projects down and nice areas like Frayser, Raleigh, Hickory Hill, and now Cordova have turned straight hood. Fair points made about the city leadership then...but now it changing for the better with new leadership. And long as St. Jude Children's hospital, Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, FedEx, International Paper, and Amazon are in town, the growth is there and we good! Old money white folks are in Germantown, Olive Branch, and Collierville...and the ones in Memphis Proper usually are cool and keep to themselves. shyt, they'll offer you a beer if the Grizz or Tigers are playing good! Memphis is just a true blue collar city with it's faults, but it's home to me.
If I remember correctly...didn't that Wal-Mart shooting happen in Southaven??

 

[Marc Spector]

Trash city tbh and my momma nem from there

 

[Supper]

Los Angeles has racial tension but it is overblown like a muhfukka. I can make the argument there's greater racial tension in Memphis, where it is much more segregated than LA, and old money white Memphis still thinks Memphis is their city to points where its beneficial...

Cats on here also seem to be ignorant on how much Mexican LA has emulated Black Angelenos...

I enjoy places with strong black influence as well. Memphis is mostly a charade though, because the black leadership in Memphis has largely failed the citizenry for decades and because of the strained race relations between black and white Memphis, they aren't enthusiastic to help black concerns and Black Memphis has shown itself to be incompetent when placed in leadership positions regarding government, education, city finances, and the police department...

White folk still control Memphis and anybody familiar with the city culture knows this. But they "left" it to us, largely, and in the process helped sabotage us and minimized their resources to is, but at the same time we haven't done ourselves many favors...

There are a number of cities that aren't as black as Memphis but have healthier black communities. That "blacker is better" is cool for some people but there are definitely holes there...

I would agree with the sentiment if we're talk ONLY about demographic presence, because you're right that a large black population doesn't necessarily mean a vibrant black community or culture. I've long said that boston ma is one of the few cities in the US that has a disproportionately low black cultural footprint in comparison to it's population size(%26). I think I've heard you echo something similar(and ironic a lot of people say boston is a very racist and unwelcoming place). I would agree that la's black community is more vibrant and noticeable than boston's despite it's lower proportion. Whereas Houston's black culture is disproportionately more apparent than most cities with a similar population demographic.

Population size is important to a degree. But, I look at other things when determining how "chocolate" a city is. That being influence(within and outside the city) history, culture, politics, identity, education, economics, grass roots activism, other institutions, ete etc These things all work together to create a sense of comfort, familiarity, and pride for AADOS people.

Hence why I said that Memphis is like what Jackson MS wishes it could be, especially as it concerns black people, despite being even blacker population wise than memphis.

That being said, you can clearly see why some people would feel a place like LA is hostile or unwelcoming, especially for a black person who's not from there. Some people may overblow LA's racial tensions, but statistically it does indeed have an abnormally high amount of anti-black hate crimes. Last time I checked it was ranked #1 in that category. Which is crazy considering how small the black population is there. And I'd bet my bottom dollar that most of those crimes are committed by hispanics.

That kinda stuff just doesn't happen on a regular basis in a city like Houston or Oakland despite the large hispanic population, especially from another minority group. White people don't even have to overtly move on black people in LA. They got mexicans to do their dirty work for them. They can kick back and practice soft racism.

Like I remember being on yt one time and seeing one of them racist ass la mexicans in the comment section telling a breh that he should leave Los Angeles and "go back to louisiana".

Like it wouldn't even sense make for a Mexican in houston to fix his lip to say something like that on any level. East TX does and always has had more in common with Louisiana than mexico since the colonial era. Colonial Spanish East TX was tri racial(native, african, european) just like louisiana and unlike mexico which was biracial(european/native). Houston is a closer distance to the Louisiana border than the Mexican border. And even before mexico was a thing TX and LA were apart of the same spanish empire for 40 years, compared to the 16 years Mexico governed TX(which they never established any presence in ETX). And "Houston" didn't exist in Spanish or Mexican TX, as it was founded by anglophone whites, and built by black slaves from the old south(including louisiana) and even a few Africans from the illegal slave trade.

A houston mexican would get taken to school and have his self esteem crushed if he ever said some shyt like that to me about MY city. It'd be harder for a LA breh to make as strong of a case. That aside, I hope y'all do fight for your spot in that city as black LA has a rich history and culture in it's own right that deserves to be preserved.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

I’m giving Memphis a 7. I get a sense that the M would remind me of a Southern version of Baltimore.

It’s got a lot of crime and I’m sure some of the suburbs are racist asf but much of the residents seem like some real salt of the earth types tho. The fact that Memphis is a very chocolate city with a significant Black police department and one of the largest number of Black-owned businesses in the country make it extremely favorable already.

I love the way Memphis Black folks talk, one of my most favorite Southern accents. A very classic Memphis blaccent to me would be Young Dolph or Project Pat or Moneybagg Yo. I fux with the slang too. Speaking of which, M-Town got a deeply entrenched music culture that has contributed significantly to ADOS and general American culture from Blues and Rock n Roll to Hip Hop and Soul music to Country and Gospel. Memphis is also my most favorite Rap scene in the South and they be having some of the best street dances down south too (that Jookin shyt alone is smooth as hell). I honestly prefer listening to Memphis shyt more than most of ATL’s shyt since it’s more grimey and dark in general delivery, tone, subject matter, and production as well as not having to rely on gimmicks so much.

Outside of the downtown/midtown area, much of the city looks pretty suburban and even hella country in a lot of parts. But it’s definitely not a city you wanna get caught slippin in.

Seems like it’s got a lot of annual festivals going on and of course I’ve heard many great things about the BBQ and Soul Food.

Would be dope to visit this city one day. Are there any hidden gems in North and South Memphis that would justify a visit to either of them? The nightlife seems lit but is it only limited to Beale Street?

 

[brickfare]

ok ok ok i've been overlooking this thread but i think i see some familiar names

both my parents are from south mem and i grew up on the fringe of north mem so there's no way I can contribute to this thread without being biased, lol

 

[JP_614]

Is big bills bbq still going my Memphis peeps? That use to be my shyt when I lived there cactus jacks on a Sunday after nikkas going to church lmao straight ratchet club scenes the plush good times when I lived there shout out to all my stout junts making easy money pimping hoes in style