I love my girl 2 death but this thing gets on the way. Me and my sister were talking about this subject(about ladies jump into the ghetto persona even if they don't know what its like being in there) I'm ghetto 2 the bone, I lived my whole life in it and I see ghetto folks every day of my life and they sho don't look/act "stereotypical" like many of ya'll think and Alicia ain't ghetto thats 4 damn sho. She was raised by a white woman in a middle class area in Harlem.

I've got tapes of bunch of Alicia's interviews and the way she act/speak is SOOO made-up. Its like being scripted and given 2 her,,,I have 2 say she's sooo damn good at it but it make ppl lose repsect 4 her. Why the hell does she have 2 front like that?? It ain't even funny. I also see them middle class folks in college acting all thugged out and shit and I'm like "Shut the fuck up please, unless you know how 2 grab a gun then I MIGHT think of having a conversation with yo ignorant ass!"


Alicia ain't NO JOKE and all of ya'll know that but seems 2 me that she's more into her IMAGE than her music(like India Arie).

It's probably for street credibility.

who in the Music Business Past&Present hasn't acted a certain way in interviews or toward the Press? you gotta Sell a Certain Personna in addtion to selling Records.also Alicia Keys is a Reflection of the times:if this was 20 years ago She would be acting like a Cross Between Kim Fields&Shanie Wilson.remember folks in that Business reflect&act with what is happening.Dr.Dre is a real good example of that.He first came out against Smoking Bud&then 5-10 Years Later he got Leafs all over His Stage Set&whatnot.notice the word:ACT because even though Musicians aren't nessciary all aiming for the Bis-Screen they still have to portray themselves in a Certain Light to see who they are&what they are about.

because she really is kinda ghetto.

djdredd said:

Hell naw she ain't.

Mr.

Maxxx said:

But what about Eryka Badu, India Arie, Jill Scott, Mary J, Angie Stone?? These ladies managed 2 sell alot of phat C-notes without being into the "created image" persona. Alicia is a very talented sistah and its really sad 2 see her like that,,the worse part is the mo' she last in this music biz this image will start 2 fade and she'll end up as a "fraud".

Harlepolis said:

they also Sell a Image.Badu Pro-Black Motherland Peace Momma.Arie the same thing but with a Hippe Vibe.Coffee House vibe,Scott MotherSun Personna,Mary J:Street Element&Attitude Ghetto Fabulous,Angie Stone:Earthy Spirit,Soul Sister Personna&a elements of all of the Women mentioned.every Artist Sells a Image jsut like they all Sell-Out on some level.you gotta have a tag to Sell who you are&they all do.Alicia is the Piano Playing Classical Taught Girl that is A Around the Way Girl Personna.Image is tagged along with what you do.

Yeah I loved it when she called Bach and Biggie her "Dawgs"
oooh that's so street,I assume on her next CD she'll cover
"HE'S Always In My Hair"

cuz she's young and dense as a piece of lorna doone.

Berry Gordy had a Charm School at Motown to Work out those ROugh EdgesNowadays Record Companys don't push that on there Artists so it's a Free for all.but alot of acting does go down in all Styles of the Game.

Meowww

see you guys are defining ghetto as meaning where you are from or something.

the first thing you guys have to realize is she is young. although she is considered an R&B/Soul singer she is still very much surrounded by hip hop and urban culture. (just like 99% of all teenagers/young adults)

look at any female artist in the biz today that sings and what do you mainly see? they all want to be down with the hip hop scene in some way. they do duets with rappers, they are in videos with rappers and they hang out in clubs where the dj is playing hip hop.

i know plenty of people that grew up with white parents, in the burbs, etc. and they can still act "ghetto". i also know cats who are straight outta the projects and you wouldn't know it by the way they acted.

but then the whole argument comes up about "what is ghetto"?

i think we can all be ghetto at times or do something ghetto.


and if you guys think that indie arie's image and badu's image is just them being themselves i would disagree. there is always someone at the record company telling these artists what to do, say and look like. especially early on in their careers.

personally i think badu, mary j and keys are ghetto
along with christia a. (cant spell her last name)

Harlepolis said:

mistermaxxx said:

But you could tell the difference between who's REAL(like Mary J) and who's fake. Everybody got image even the ppl on the street got image but the UGLY side of an image is when you see ppl act phony(like Christina & Alicia).

I just say, if it ain't you, it will shine through...

but what is real?
but what is fake?

so every kid in the world now that listens to hip hop or is into the urban slang and culture is fake if they dont come from the projects and if they have non-black parents?

we really need to redefine ghetto.

Harlepolis said:

Harlepolis said:

And playing classical piano to boot!!!

I have to agree with EWM on the "street credibility" thing. Sister girl's got to show and prove. Maybe she thinks she's keeping it real. But, she sure works it to the bone; to the point where she seems a bit butch. Hey, do all of her sentences end with "y'knowwhutumsayin'?"

I hear she has a foul mouth too.

djdredd said:

You got it twisted here! I neva said anything about ppl listening 2 hip/hop music. I know plenty of white folks listening 2 urban music without being influenced by it. I don't worry much about the people on the street anyway, we all know most of them follow the trend. I'm talking about artists in general.

UptownDeb said:

Clive couldn't get Mary J on his label so he decided 2 put a young MARY J under his managment. She's trying so hard 2 be Mary(in terms of singing and attitude).

yeah i know what you are saying, but what i am i saying is you have to look at alicia keys and the whole ghetto argument a little more deeply.

i think the girl acts ghetto, period. i dont attribute it to her being fake. thats my only point. i just think that is how she acts. if people want to call it fake because she grew up with a white mom and plays classical piano i have to disagree and say something. that argument just doesn't hold water with me.

i cant really say if this is something that j records created because i dont know how she acted before she got on.

if you really think about it it would make sense to have a young artist like her be kinda urban/hip/ghetto. i dont know if j records played on how she already acted or if they created this ghetto persona for her. i would say a little bit of both.

Harlepolis said:

Harlepolis said:

not that is true.Clive wanted a Mary J.Clone&Success Smells Success.,

djdredd said:

I'm saying that she came from a much DIFFERENT much HEALTHIER inviroment period thats what I'm trying 2 say. Have you listened 2 her songs "Trouble" & "The Life"?? listen 2 the song and give me you opinion. She sings about the hustle and surviving in a jungle land(aka the ghetto) lol thats funny. How could she relate 2 that?? Her mother is a actress and like I said she lived in a middle class area(which isn't BAD at all) but she's talking like she came from the ghetto,,,speaking with slangs and posing like rappers and claim about having a rough childhood doesn't make a person "GHETTO"--its a state of mind.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 27 14:04:20 PST 2003 by Harlepolis]

Shoot.

Alicia Keys wouldn't know ghetto if it tried to bum a Kool off her skinny white ass.

AuntEsther said:

Well, my sister and I grew up in an middle classed neighborhood and my sister is ghetto as Hell. She doesn't act ghetto, she is ghetto. Our parents were not ghetto at all either. Now, I think there are different levels of ghetto, though. She's more middle of the road. My point is ghetto has nothing to do with where you grew up or what class you're in.

harle i think its cause shes kinda of "tomboy-ish"...she reminds me of a dude when she performs,talks,walks,stands lol

The term "acting ghetto" was recently made popular. We need to stop putting people in groups. Leave that beautiful, young, talented lady alone and enjoy the good music she's dropping on your finger pointing behinds.

ugh...whatever...have ya'll been to some "middle class" neighborhoods...I was raised in a "middle class" neighborhood...the kid four houses down...dead...gun shot to the head...drugs...the two guys on the corner..both in jail...for LIFE...the girl across the street from them...jail for bank robbery...and this is one block in a middle class neighborhood where most of us had two parent homes and lived what some would think to be a safe existence.


Some of ya'll are looking at her white mother and then claiming...nope she can't be "ghetto" (whatever that is)...oh...she plays classical piano...of course she's not "ghetto"...Alicia is most of the time and can't put a sentence together without mumbling. I don't think it's an act.

she's "ghetto" enough for me...whatever "ghetto" is...

There's ghetto and there's working class.

People who were born and raised in a household with 2 parents, both parents had blue collar jobs, family lives in a nice comfortable house that the parents might own, there was food on the table, the kids went to school everyday, kids had clean clothes etc. There is money to let the kids take tennis lessons, or karate lessons, or piano lessons. That is a working class family.

A ghetto family is a family where nothing is owned. The parent(s) may not have a career or even a steady job. There may or may not be food on the table from day to day. The family sometimes has their electricity, phone, gas, whatever turned off for lack of payment. The kids may or may not be in school. The family might live in public housing, a run-down apartment, or a trailer. Police, probation officers, and social workers are regularly seen in the neighborhood.

Alicia Keys is not ghetto. She is a product of the working class.

Sueme said:

Thank U! thats what I was talking about in the 1st place.

only half of her album is great.

Fallin',after reading a thread here...is basically a rip-off of JB's "its a mans mans mans world" (the music is atleast)
& saddest thing is...people thing "HCUDCMA" is HER song!

Whutumsayin'is, people might look at the fact that she has a white mom and say, "Aw, she ain't black enough." Or, look at the fact that she's had training in classical piano and say, "Aw shit, nobody listens to Mozart in the hood!"

To this, Alicia might say: "Yo, yo, yo! I'm down! I look like you, I talk like you, I walk the walk like you. (Sucking her teeth and rolling her eyes) I AM like you!"

Anyway, homegirl works it just a little too hard.