Owning The Hood

Some people resent artists like Elvis Presley for taking what was once considered "Black culture" and repackaging it and selling it to a wider audience as a new American invention.
Many of these same people are the ones who complain about Asians, Indians or Arabs coming into a majority Black areas and opening up a nail shop or corner store.

But owning what was once thought of as Black culture isn't being racist, it's just smart.
It's just understanding that there is an under-served market.
It's just doing what the indigenous people should have done.
No one owns the hood brand.

That is until entrepreneurs like Master P or Too Short (or Barry Gordy with MoTown - a generation earlier) came along decided to brand their image (and that of their surroundings) into a product that could be sold to an audience outside of their own neighborhoods.
These men understood the value of the lifestyle they were living.
These men took what they knew and translated that into a product/brand that they could control.



Now Gatorade is putting the ownership of the hood (or hood imagery) back into the hands of corporate America.
"That's 'G'" takes on a whole new meaning.