Rate This City: Day 58 - Richmond VA

[The Devil's Advocate]

To be fair, the last time I've seen a Confederate flag was in PA about a year ago. I live in Baltimore tho.

PA is bad once you go west. They didn't go red in the last election for no reason. Usually the major cities of Philly and Pittsburg will balance them out, but they showing themselves again.

 

[murksiderock]

Richmond is the truth and while it isn't a "major" city, it's the seminal city in The Commonwealth and large enough to talk about (1.3 million metro). When you start comparing it to national cities, for a fact it's a GOAT-level city in its weight class, up there with New Orleans and Salt Lake....

As an adult I parked all thru that muhfukka playing with narcotics, but my HQ turf was mostly off Jackson/St. James in Jackson Ward. All the college and educated professional clientele from Uptown and Downtown Rich within blocks all around me, shyt was good to me...

Somebody up thread mentioned it ain't a gangbanging city, which is mostly true. Street operations in Rich is almost identical to DC, there are some gangs floating around but they mostly local, and nikkas are definitely with the shyts...

Spinning blocks from the West End in Henrico to Midlothian Village on the Southside, Rich was really good to a young brother, but outside of that, the creative culture in Rich is second to none. If you're in to street art, Rich is GOAT-level, it's literally everywhere. VMFA is one of the best museums in the country, VCU has a nationally renowned art school, Rich is the capital of music in Virginia and the way the city supports local music is GOAT----->

To this point I want to say a common misconception I've seen online or outta town is that Tidewater is the music capital of VA, but it isn't. Tidewater really unique for the number of artists who blow there, but the venues and local scene is mediocre and everybody from there to NoVa to Roanoke, all over VA, flock to Rich because the venues, exposure, and everything else is just in larger quantity. Everybody in VA knows Rich is where the music scene is controlled in VA, it's people not familiar with the local scenes and not from VA who think otherwise...

The indie rock culture is tapped in with multiple bands in DC and these muhfukkas promote Richmond bands...

The food in Rich is GOAT for Virginia, Mama J's is trash and Croaker Spot overrated but Sabai and these international spots are top notch...

Women are gorgeous, Virginia women in general are some if the best the US has to offer....

Someone up thread said Rich the only part of VA that felt southern, which is something I've only heard online because when I've been around transplants from everywhere in the city streets (California, Ohio, Bronx, ATL, NC, I'm remembering people from these places off top of my head), they always comment about how Rich doesnt look or feel like the South. For a fact it ain't as southern as Tidewater, the actual city of Richmond is the same Mid-Atlantic hybrid as DC and Bmore with a little more southern air because it is geographically further south. But nowhere in the US south of Rich feels "less" southern...

I'm on brain overload because there's so much shyt to talk about lol, so I'll try quoting shyt to respond to. I love Richmond. The Beach took over as my home when I moved there, but Richmond is still my favorite VA city and I'm more of an Eight Owe cat anyway, the culture really is different in the Seven Five, it's a different version of Virginia...

 

[murksiderock]

@murksiderock

What's good my G

What's good g, you ain't lying about PA. The redneck and racism shyt I'd outta control there and Upstate NY in spots, I've encountered racism in VA but in the city of Richmond it's nowhere near what some posters think it is...

You can do a lot, LOT worse in the United States for racist cities, I mean way worse, than Richmond...

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

I haven’t been to Rich since 2000, used to spend some time down there with my late great grandma and both my late auntie and late grandma were originally from RVA before moving to DC last century. In retrospect, it was an okay city. Kinda boring and more country than DC but I do remember it being almost nothing but Black folks in the streets and neighborhoods and only running into Cacs in the downtown area. Not sure how much Rich has changed since then however. I would definitely say Rich got more of a big town vibe than that of a large city to me. It basically comes off as a bigger version of Salisbury, MD frfr.

Rich practically is DC’s lil sibling tho. The architecture is very similar, the rowhouses got setbacks and small yards, the demographic percentages are damn near similar, Rich nikkas share some slang and accent pronunciations with DMV nikkas, street politics often centers around apartment/project/block crews rather than gangs, it’s not uncommon to hear some GoGo music playing down there, they ride and die for the Redskins (tbh, Rich and VA in general ride for the Skins way harder than DC does), RVA Black folks share the DMV’s dreadhead culture, RVA’s land size is literally the same as DC’s, a nice balance between urbanity and nature, abundant recreational activity within both the city and suburbs, both were Chocolate Cities almost simultaneously at the same time, and both DMV and RVA brehs got families in both areas. Rich is definitely a more artsy and chill version of DC tho, people are a lil more nicer down there too. Don’t know how strong the pro-Black community is down there tho.

I’ve heard some really cool things about RVA’s food scene, bar scene, arts scene, and live music scene. Wanting to check out the Carytown Watermelon Festival and the ArtWalk as well as checking out VSU girls are enough reasons for me to wanna visit Rich for a few days for the first time in almost two decades

 

[Cave Savage]

It was recently voted best craft beer city in the Northeast

 

[murksiderock]

I haven’t been to Rich since 2000, used to spend some time down there with my late great grandma and both my late auntie and late grandma were originally from RVA before moving to DC last century. In retrospect, it was an okay city. Kinda boring and more country than DC but I do remember it being almost nothing but Black folks in the streets and neighborhoods and only running into Cacs in the downtown area. Not sure how much Rich has changed since then however. I would definitely say Rich got more of a big town vibe than that of a large city to me. It basically comes off as a bigger version of Salisbury, MD frfr.

Rich practically is DC’s lil sibling tho. The architecture is very similar, the rowhouses got setbacks and small yards, the demographic percentages are damn near similar, Rich nikkas share some slang and accent pronunciations with DMV nikkas, street politics often centers around apartment/project/block crews rather than gangs, it’s not uncommon to hear some GoGo music playing down there, they ride and die for the Redskins (tbh, Rich and VA in general ride for the Skins way harder than DC does), RVA Black folks share the DMV’s dreadhead culture, RVA’s land size is literally the same as DC’s, a nice balance between urbanity and nature, abundant recreational activity within both the city and suburbs, both were Chocolate Cities almost simultaneously at the same time, and both DMV and RVA brehs got families in both areas. Rich is definitely a more artsy and chill version of DC tho, people are a lil more nicer down there too. Don’t know how strong the pro-Black community is down there tho.

I’ve heard some really cool things about RVA’s food scene, bar scene, arts scene, and live music scene. Wanting to check out the Carytown Watermelon Festival and the ArtWalk as well as checking out VSU girls are enough reasons for me to wanna visit Rich for a few days for the first time in almost two decades

You need to go again. I def wouldn't say it's a major city but it feels bigger than a "big town"...

Black culture is strong and solid as hell. The parallels with DC are on point, you hit most of them; anybody who has spent reasonable time in both cities sees the similarities jump off the page. Its undergone gentrification with whites reclaiming the city over the last 15 years just like DC, it's about 46% black now. But Black Rich is heavily embedded into the political and social fabric of the city, both historically and present...

White people from the burbs I mentioned earlier and elsewhere in Va pack out Rich for Nascar events. In my experience white people in the city tend to not be heavy into racing at all, but the Nascar shyt is a big deal in that demo and it isn't a negative to have major Nascar races in your city, other places have them too. It's just more outsiders are there than actual Richmonders...

The sports scene is undervalued because there is no major league teams, but almost all sports are big in Rich, from recreational sports like tennis and cycling (huge followings) to all team sports. Rich is 100 miles from The District, all DC teams are supported, and the Redskins have held training camp in the city multiple times in their city, and the Wizards play preseason games at the Siegel Center every year...

All DC teams market Richmond and do some form of community involvement; it's a big enough metro that its influence can't be overlooked. Honestly the Rich/DC sports dynamic is similar to Sacramento/Bay Area, how those Bay teams market themselves in Sac too...

I don't think there are 10 greater places to be black in the United States. People afraid of its Confederate history don't realize how little importance it holds to city residents; on the Caucasian side there are a ton of social justice warriors who despise that part of its history. And this probably isn't the site for a history lesson, so I'll be brief and say that Richmond residents didn't volunteer to be the capital of the Confederacy, it was drafted into that position due to the politics if that time despite pushback from locals...of that time...

And at any rate Richmond is almost 300 years old and that stint as the Confederate capital lasted 4 years, it would be disingenuous and uneducated to relegate Richmond to less than 2% of its history. For sure the residents of the city don't view themselves this way...

Richmond is alota things, the college and university infrastructure plays largely into the city's sophisticated personality (VCU x URich x J Sarge x MCV x VUU), again this is another parallel to DC, a big government city (DC on the federal level, Rich on the state level) that also has a huge education infrastructure...

Richmond Jazz Festival brings alota older musicians out but also caters to a younger demographic and you'll see black folk from all around Virginia coming to that, River Rock and Richmond Folk Festival. The festival's are another amazing characteristic in Richmond that is tops in Virginia by a landslide, and one of the best experiences of any city in Richmond's weight class nationally. There's always some popping festival every month, and when there isn't there's live music somewhere...

More athletes than people realize come from the city, like Russell Wilson is the best QB in the game today and he from there, Arthur Ashe, the Sharper brothers, etc. D'Angelo from there, allegedly Chris Brown spent some time here before he moved to LA when he was 18 and I've met a handful of people who have interacted with his older sister, who has lived in Richmond for years...

So much positive to say about Richmond, all I can really say is those people who haven't experienced it on more than a pass thru or haven't been in a long time and are living off of stereotypes are missing out. It is one of the greatest US cities in that 1-2 million metro range without a doubt, I guess people have to really get around to realize that though...

Rich is the truth and will always have a home in my heart!

 

[murksiderock]

It was recently voted best craft beer city in the Northeast

This is funny until you realize these definitions of regional identity are fluid and changing by the generation. Barely more than a generation ago most Baltimoreans and Washingtonians considered themselves southerners, what changed? They both still in the same geographic position they always were and both still have most of the same cultural characteristics they always had, so what changed?

People online don't like hearing this, and if you're from the area you probably already know this, but Rich has centuries of history with DC and Bmore that link them all. It's only 100 miles south of DC, this isn't really directed at you specifically but I've always found it odd that people online have this assumption that somewhere so geographically close to DC and Bmore should be so different---->there are obviously unique things about each but there are a host of similarities between the three....

Richmond is on the northern half of the East Coast, has a culture, a layout and build more similar to some Northeast cities than pretty much anywhere south of Norfolk, and was founded and given designation as "southern" when the US had 13 Colonies and the entirety of what became the South wasn't even known...

It isn't Northeastern, and it is southern, but there is a basis for calling it Northeastern that is rooted in how the city is both today and historically, and that publication isng the only entity that calls Richmond Northeastern...

Whatever made the public change their minds on DC and Bmore 40-50 years ago is working on Richmond too, and this same conversation in 2050 will not have people scoffing at the idea of Richmond as Northeastern, even though it'll always have southern roots the same way DC and Maryland do!

 

[Cave Savage]

This is funny until you realize these definitions of regional identity are fluid and changing by the generation. Barely more than a generation ago most Baltimoreans and Washingtonians considered themselves southerners, what changed? They both still in the same geographic position they always were and both still have most of the same cultural characteristics they always had, so what changed?

People online don't like hearing this, and if you're from the area you probably already know this, but Rich has centuries of history with DC and Bmore that link them all. It's only 100 miles south of DC, this isn't really directed at you specifically but I've always found it odd that people online have this assumption that somewhere so geographically close to DC and Bmore should be so different---->there are obviously unique things about each but there are a host of similarities between the three....

Richmond is on the northern half of the East Coast, has a culture, a layout and build more similar to some Northeast cities than pretty much anywhere south of Norfolk, and was founded and given designation as "southern" when the US had 13 Colonies and the entirety of what became the South wasn't even known...

It isn't Northeastern, and it is southern, but there is a basis for calling it Northeastern that is rooted in how the city is both today and historically, and that publication isng the only entity that calls Richmond Northeastern...

Whatever made the public change their minds on DC and Bmore 40-50 years ago is working on Richmond too, and this same conversation in 2050 will not have people scoffing at the idea of Richmond as Northeastern, even though it'll always have southern roots the same way DC and Maryland do!

I don't think it's weird at all. I went to Arlington, VA a few years ago and did not feel like I was in the South, it wouldn't surprise me if Richmond felt the same way to me

 

[Child_Of_God]

I don't think it's weird at all. I went to Arlington, VA a few years ago and did not feel like I was in the South, it wouldn't surprise me if Richmond felt the same way to me

I’m literally right across the bridge from Arlington and none of the locals here consider it The South either. Northern Virginia honestly feels like an extension of DC to me.

 

[AlwaysLurkin]

Southside lol naw but its chill here..not a bad place to grow up and raise a family imo

 

[UberEatsDriver]

I’ve never seen a plantation in my life.

You nikkas said you don’t like seeing plantations like it’s one on every corner

Id like to buy one. Sounds like a large plot of land.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

I’m literally right across the bridge from Arlington and none of the locals here consider it The South either. Northern Virginia honestly feels like an extension of DC to me.

Northern VA reminds me a lot of Northern NJ in a sense.

def doesn’t feel southern at all.

 

[Json]

RVA we in it!!!!


Richmond is on the brink of becoming a major city on the coast. Similar to Charlotte, but it needs a better infrastructure and public transit.

People are liberal and the level of diversity is on the rise.

 

[murksiderock]

I’m literally right across the bridge from Arlington and none of the locals here consider it The South either. Northern Virginia honestly feels like an extension of DC to me.

Alexandria in particular is just DC extended further south for sure...

Southside lol naw but its chill here..not a bad place to grow up and raise a family imo

The Southside is rough and not very appealing. It used to get really active along Westover Hills, particularly around Ashton Square area, Midlothian Village was definitely a no fly zone, Belt Blvd etc. I politicked in a couple Southside spots but it was a different atmosphere than you get Uptown...

 

[murksiderock]

RVA we in it!!!!


Richmond is on the brink of becoming a major city on the coast. Similar to Charlotte, but it needs a better infrastructure and public transit.

People are liberal and the level of diversity is on the rise.

Richmond def has potential. And while I don't feel its particularly racist, it definitely is segregated as hell, so unless you're Uptown, there isn't a large level of integration in Rich and even Uptown it varies by the block...

East End and Northside are almost entirely black, West End almost entirely white, Southside has growing number of Mexicans and a bunch of blacks and whites but they all kinda in they own sections, Uptown is diverse but kinda block by block. So its growing more diverse but the city definitely needs to get more integrated...

They have improved both GRTC and RIC so transit is improving. Everything else is already there, Richmond is most definitely on the rise...