Locals Only

I can’t see myself raising my kids anywhere other than the 757. The 7 cities. Hampton Roads. Whatever it is you want to call Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton; I can’t see myself making a family anywhere else. While down at school at *The* North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, plenty of people asked me why I repped the 757 so hard. For the most part, people just attributed it to me just loving my hometown. While I have to admit that I do indeed love my hometown, there’s a lot more to it than just love.

There’s quite literally no other place like the 757 on the planet. Being home to the world’s largest navy base brings in a variety of people from a variety of places. It’s how an immigrant from Saint Lucia and a girl from the central district of Seattle met on a blind date and had the coolest kid ever. It’s a place where you can have a Filipino Festival, then Greek Fest and then a Taco fest on back to back weekends. Chief Keef came to the Ted Constant Center two weeks ago and just the other day I attended a Men I Trust and Turnover concert in downtown Norfolk. If you’ve ever met somebody from the 757, you’ve noticed they are always authentically themselves, for better or worse.

Personally, I’m from Norfolk, the best of the 7 cities. The home of the best Feather n Fin in the area (the one on Tidewater), the old home of the AFRAM fest, Granby Street, Killam Ave, OV, Baker’s Crust, the Chrysler Museum, Waterside, Del Vec’s, Croaker Spot and so much more. Being from Norfolk meant that one of your friends was probably in the medical program at Maury, International Baccalaureate at Granby or that Science and Engineering program at Norview. I’m old enough to remember my parents dropping me off at Military Circle and making 3 laps at the mall and finishing at the Jimmy Jazz by the food court to catch a $4 matinee. Norfolk will always be my home, no matter how much they try to gentrify Park Place or put an ill-advised casino downtown.

Being from here means that somebody in your family is in the military, and if not that means you’re the one in the military. Here you’ll find hood dudes that listen to Tame Impala and watch anime, but don’t get it too confused and find yourself at the business end of a white pair of forces (or dc’s as we used to call ‘em). If I wasn’t from here, I wouldn’t have met my friend who put me onto Naruto by watching Linkin Park amv’s, or my homies that put me on to Dom Kennedy in the cafeteria at Granby.

Being from the 757 affords you every opportunity to be whoever it is you want to be, and if you don’t know, there’s plenty of opportunity to find out. Doubt me? Just ask Pharrell, the Clipse, Missy Elliot, Timbaland, Allen Iverson, Michael Vick, Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Brooks, Percy Harvin, Kam Chancellor, DRAM, Deangelo Hall, Jay Phaoroah, Plaxico Burress, Grant Gustin, Will Fuller, Sweet Pea Whitaker, Patton Oswalt, Maségo, Wanda Sykes, Joe Smith, Bruce Smith, Mike Tomlin, and many many more.

It’s well documented that Cash Money and the Clipse had beef back in the 00’s over BAPE. There’s those that believe that Wayne wore that BAPE in the Hustla Muzik video to imitate Pusha T and (No) Malice. Recently, Curren$y did an interview that explained that he was put on to BAPE by watching the Clipse and Pharrell, by watching Virginia. He copped himself some Bapestas and then, in turn, put Wayne on BAPE, and the rest is rap/fashion history. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know Spitta to be a liar. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3MRRIBFvm4 @ 8:22)

The purpose of this VA Only page is to highlight these reasons I love VA and appropriately explain it to all those people that were confused about why I’m so proud to say I’m from Norfolk. Virginia has a lot to say and alot of infuence on the culture as a whole, and it’s about time everyone understood this.

Basically, I write all this to say, if you ain’t from the 757 I feel bad for you. And don’t buy up all the hotels for Something In the Water 2020 or I’mma be sick.