Giving up ghetto

I'm giving up ghetto in the New Year. \nIt's possible that in my junior high days I might have used the term to describe the knock-off Coach purses and silver, Puffy-inspired coats I lusted after. But back then, ghetto was somehow "fabulous" -- ghetto fabulous, to be exact.\nAccording to International Herald Tribune writer Robin Givahn, "Ghetto fabulous began as simply a celebration of success, the realization of childish dreams of fur coats, big cars and sparkling diamonds that were born in some of the most deprived U.S communities." The days of label-worship within the hip-hop world continue. But the latest sensation focuses more on ghetto and less on fabulous.\nThe new ghetto, which LA Weekly writer Erin Aubry Kaplan dubs "ghettotainment," is not musician (Lil') Kim's ghetto of the past. Kim's ghetto, comprised of in-charge attitudes, the finest wares and making it big, delivered a different message. And while I might not have cared for the two-piece fur bikinis Kim donned, I laughingly understood the business sense of her ghetto fabulousness. She bought the clothes, dictated the style, called it ghetto fabulous and did it all because she could. Kim, Foxy Brown, Mary J. Blige and the mogul formerly known as Puff Daddy, among others, adopted the ghetto fabulous movement. Unlike their hip-hop predecessors, the Kim generation took advantage of an industry continually attempting to exploit them. \nHip-hop is everywhere, from clothing lines to pre-paid debit cards, soft drink endorsements to top-shelf liquor; and so too are the influences of black artists and black culture. In a country where it seems audiences become more enamored by musicians and less by music, it's no wonder that young, white suburbanites feel a connection to the rebel spirit of black artists and the stereotypical black 'hood life. Hip-hop satiates the public's fascination with the grimier side to ghetto by providing a commitment-free, pre-packaged version in the form of an 18-track CD or 5-minute mini-feature à la MTV. \nI enjoy the fact that hip-hop has become a nearly universal art form. On the other hand, I'm bothered by folks whose closest encounters with ghetto occur in the comfort of their living rooms. This group exploits the culture as if their consumption of G-Unit and Phat Farm allows them the privilege.\nI'm giving up ghetto because of people like David Chang, creator of Ghettopoly. His game allows players to move their malt liquor game piece through a world of stolen property and crack houses -- in short: the ghetto. With the thick-lipped, bandana-sporting, forty-ounce-clutching black caricature hanging over the Ghettopoly sign, I can't help but feel offended by the board game's racial undertones.\nAt the game's website, www.ghettopoly.com, Chang maintains he is not a racist, but instead a hip-hop enthusiast whose game reflects the images invoked by his study of MTV, BET and video games. In fact, in his statement to "The Haters" Chang says, "For those of you who say, 'why don't you make Chinkopoly?' -- the word chink is a racist word, ghetto is not."\nPuh-lease.\nChang grossly exploits stereotypes perversely associated with black life -- poverty, crime, drug abuse, incarceration, etc. -- and calls it "ghetto." The game is an insult to black people, non-blacks in the black community and poor people in general. In the days of ghetto fabulous, Kim could exploit herself, but Kim got paid -- and her involvement was voluntary. I have a hard time believing folks struggling to survive the 'hood life shop at Urban Outfitters or own stock in Chang's company. \nSo I'm giving up ghetto in the New Year. I see what happens when a word with so many negative perversions falls into the wrong hands -- especially a pair doing no more than flipping between MTV and BET.