Southern University: Hip-Hop & Politics

Unpacking "The Hood": Identity, Stereotypes, and Social Reality (Asiah Ervin and Xander Delco)

• Eugene B. Lee-Johnson • Season 2 • Episode 7

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What defines "the hood" in American culture, and who creates it? Two college students—Asia Irvin, a senior communications major from Dallas, and Xander, a sophomore studying speech language pathology—dive into this complex question with remarkable candor and insight.

Drawing from their own suburban upbringings and connections to different environments, they examine how "the hood" exists both as a physical place and as a cultural identity that shapes perceptions and behaviors. Their conversation moves beyond simplistic stereotypes to explore the nuanced reality: not everyone from challenging environments embodies "hood" characteristics, while many who adopt those personas have never experienced such realities.

The dialogue becomes particularly powerful when they share their experiences with code-switching in predominantly white educational settings. Both recall the pressure of feeling their individual actions would be interpreted as representative of all Black people—a burden placed on them from elementary school onward. These personal stories illuminate how racial identity becomes heightened in environments where one is a minority, forcing young people to navigate complex social dynamics long before they should have to.

Media representation emerges as a crucial topic, with the students critiquing how "hood" culture is often glorified in music, film, and social media. They distinguish between authentic portrayals born from lived experience versus performative personas adopted for credibility or commercial appeal. This glorification creates problematic cycles, as younger generations emulate what they see without understanding the consequences.

Perhaps most compelling is their analysis of systemic factors versus individual choices. Rather than blaming residents for community challenges, they point to external forces—limited resources, educational inequities, and substances "being put into communities." As Xander poignantly notes, many from these environments are taught "to survive, not to live," a profound distinction that shapes priorities and decision-making.

Join this thought-provoking conversation that challenges assumptions and offers fresh perspectives on how environment shapes identity, opportunity, and life outcomes. Whether you're examining your own relationship with community or seeking to understand different lived experiences, this episode provides valuable insights into one of America's most misunderstood social realities.

Asiah:

Hey, hey, I'm Asia Irvin. I am a graduating senior majoring in mass communications with a concentration in broadcast. I am from Dallas, texas, and today we will be talking about who created the hood.

Xander:

Hi, I'm Xander. I am a sophomore. I major in speech language pathology. How do you feel about the class?

Asiah:

I love this class. Well, when I first started taking Dr Johnson, I was taking state and local government and I thought state and local government was going to be very boring based on the topic. But when I actually started to get in the class and understand what he says, he makes the topics in the class more interesting than they should be, if that makes sense. He finds a different way, a different avenue to explain it, other than being boring. So when he told us about this current issues class, he said well, I'm teaching a class next semester. It's going to be a lot of fun topics that we're talking about, a lot of discussions, and I like the discussion type of class environment and so that's why I decided to take current issues.

Xander:

OK, OK how about you.

Asiah:

They said I needed an elective and I was like OK, current issues.

Xander:

Okay, okay, how about you um?

Asiah:

they said I needed an elective and I was like okay, current issues.

Xander:

That's how I read them right. Shout out to my advisor. But what would be your definition of the hood?

Asiah:

so I kind of have two definitions. I think the hood can be categorized in a place of where you stay or where you're from, or you could be considered hood based off of how you act. So I feel like it differentiates. So it just depends on what type of vibe you get at the time, but not everybody that's acts.

Xander:

Hood is from the hood and not everybody that's from the hood is hood. You know what I'm saying?

Asiah:

so I feel like the hood doesn't make you how about you.

Xander:

That was kind of like what I was gonna say. It's like it's a feeling and a place like, an actual place Right, Like, and you can't really. I feel like a lot of people say like oh, the hood made me. I feel like that.

Asiah:

I'm like the hood broke you just a little bit.

Xander:

Like I feel like there's some good but there's some like cause. There's more of a sense of community, but not at the same time than it exists. Right, so I feel like it's kind of iffy.

Asiah:

So would you consider where you're from the hood? Not at all, not at all. So how?

Xander:

did you grow up? So I'm a suburban girl Me too. Me too, yeah, from Houston, texas. I've been around the hood, like when I was born, I grew up. When I was born, I grew up, or when I, when I was born, I wouldn't consider Texas City the hood, but it has like some resemblance, the parts, yeah. So like I'll say like I'm not really no, no, but I know, like all my people, my whole family, my sister, everybody, but I don't think I was.

Asiah:

I don't consider where I'm from the hood either, because I live in a small town in texas.

Asiah:

I'm from mansfield, texas, and so that's more so country texas and I went to an all-white christian private school from fourth grade to ninth grade and I got moved in 10th grade to public school. So it's kind of like a culture shock, like I wasn't used to being around so many black people in one setting, and so when I actually converted over to a public school it just made me kind of appreciate my private Christian school just a little bit more, but I didn't get taught the right things that I got taught in public school Like okay.

Asiah:

For example, when I went to private school, it was always like a fight when it comes for me.

Asiah:

I was one out of three black girls that went to that school, and both of their names were Asian, so it was three Asians in the whole school, you know, and it just it was coincidental, but it just kind of shaped my view in life things differently, Like I started looking at things way differently because my parents one was country, one was hood and so I feel like I got the best of both worlds on why I didn't want to be. I didn't want to go around and say oh yeah. I made it from the bottom because I grew up in the hood. I didn't grow up in the hood, I did.

Asiah:

And I did not come from the bottom. I'm going to be sober. My mom, she paved the way for me.

Asiah:

Now her and my brother they might have because my brother's older than me. She had my brother when she was a little younger, me she had my brother when she was a little younger. So that might have. They might have struggled together, but when she had me we didn't struggle completely different. So that's why I think of the hood a little differently. Like you could say, you're from the hood and then you don't even know what the hood is. And I'm one of those people. In reality, I don't know what the hood is because I never had to, you know, be in that environment.

Xander:

But I would say like my experience was kind of opposite, like I didn't go to school until like kindergarten. Well, of course, kindergarten but I was always around my cousins, around white people, and then like being constantly around black people and then having to change myself or having to realize and I didn't realize until like first, second grade that if I was to do something then that was a reflection on every black girl in the class.

Asiah:

Yeah, so did it feel like you had?

Xander:

to kind of code switch, most definitely At a very young age. And I was telling you me and my mom were just having this conversation too Like she said she felt like she wished I was. I went to school in a more like like in. Have you ever heard of Humble Texas? Humble Texas is more of like a little bit more diverse yeah like there's a lot of black people.

Xander:

But she always wanted me because she said she felt the shift every time, like in the summers, when I would go home and well, not home, but when I would go to, like you know, her place or my grand, my dad's, uh, grandmothers, and she would feel the shift of me having to change, like me not knowing if I should act this way or should I be comfortable with this, you know.

Asiah:

So I feel like that was a big thing so do you feel like you were able to be yourself in those settings?

Xander:

no, like the whole conversation with oh, would you change your hair? For like every year, every year, same. Where did that come from?

Xander:

your hair grew overnight and you know yes, and then, like me, and I feel like when I started wearing you know, weave, that was like a completely different shift, because after that I noticed like, okay, I'm getting more attention, or I'm getting the validation of like oh my gosh, you're so pretty. And then I feel like I fell back on that and like ever since, it's been hard for me not to. Yeah, it's just sad, it's really sad.

Asiah:

I definitely understand your experience because it kind of happened to me as well, you know, but I was more so trying to fit in because I felt like that's what I had to do in order to stay at the school, you know, like because little comments used to be said from the white children you know at the time, and me getting older and actually understanding some of the words that were said to me, it should have microaggression, just waiting on a reason to say something to you like oh well, why are you walking in the hallway like that?

Xander:

oh, why did you slam your locker like that?

Asiah:

the teachers oh so you're, but then somebody's coming behind me late, so are we going to do the same thing? I feel like it was always something when it came to it. But then they automatically assumed you're from the hood because you're black. And I feel like I changed the narrative in the school that I did go to, because I was never afraid to hold, I was never afraid to speak my mind, because I was never afraid to speak.

Asiah:

My mind I've never been a person to hold my tongue and actually just sit there and watch how things go. No, I'm going to say something, Because it's just more so a thing toward the respect Like you want somebody to respect you respect me. Just because I'm black doesn't mean I'm automatically a hitham, and that's what they assume. Automatically a hip them, and that's what they assume. But those, those assumptions have never been the accurate ones, which?

Asiah:

is why I never take it to heart honestly, because somebody can say something. Well, I used to be the type of person in elementary and middle school to want to fit in and want to be liked really, you know how your mama always said you don't need a friend why you always gotta have a friend. I was that type of person that needed to have a friend, because I never wanted to be by myself yeah, and it wasn't until I learned to love myself, and that was in high school.

Asiah:

Like and still in high school, I still struggled with the different friendships because I had a mixed race group of friends. My first best friend was white, and so she was, but that was also the first friend that hurt me, which is why I said, I just have to keep it pushing, keep it moving, but what are some things that you would likely see when it comes to the hood?

Xander:

Air quotations. I feel like there's a lot of conversation, that there's like the same people in the hood, if that makes sense, and you will most likely see blacks, hispanics. You know minorities, yes, usually.

Asiah:

Do you believe in the saying let's see the birds of the feather flock together.

Xander:

To a point Like I see it, but I don't. At the same time, Like my boyfriend, he is very much like, but like, and he grew up in that type of setting and he always said like oh yeah, you know, but like, and he grew up in that type of setting and he always said like oh yeah, you know, I do that, but she won't, though, Like you're in the middle of like he, he changed himself. All his friends are still doing the things that he's doing and he's changed himself. He joined the army, he did this, he did that and I feel like there is, If you want, to do it.

Xander:

you will yes, if you wanted to, you would, and I feel like a lot of people forget that they're so they could be so stuck in that situation that they don't see the outside of that situation. Does that make sense?

Asiah:

Yes, and I feel like that's how the movies kind of portray it to be, you know, just in a sense, to where it's always that one thug in a movie that either shoots somebody or gets shot. It's like they're the hero but they're not, and they want that get back yeah it's always a narrative type of thing like, oh, I gotta get, get back, or I have to get even, no matter what, and in reality I reality.

Asiah:

I feel like it's okay to a certain extent, like when you say get, even if somebody says, if somebody insults your intelligence, you're going to get, even by proving to them that you're intellectual. It's like a different type of proving to someone because at the end of the day, I feel like you're trying to prove it to them but you're proving it to yourself at the end of the day and that's what I do respect and I do like about it.

Asiah:

But what do you think are some of the big misconceptions and stereotypes about black people?

Xander:

that everybody went through the same situation, that, yes, it blows me like that be and every like. Like you were saying, before birds of a feather flock together if your friend is doing this, and that means everybody In this day and age, if your friend is a hoe, they think you're a hoe.

Asiah:

And that's why I always pride myself in being friends with the right people, the right group, because it is true, when you're in a friend group and they're known for certain things, you're going to be grouped in that friend group when they haven't even heard anything about you, and so that's how I was in high school.

Xander:

Yeah, I was the innocent one, but all my friends, they were like doing things that I you wouldn't catch me doing. But at the end of the day, I'm guilty by association you know exactly well.

Asiah:

Do you feel like people that are from the hood have more issues than regular black people that aren't from the hood?

Xander:

I feel like that's kind of.

Asiah:

Or do they face more challenges, you think?

Xander:

I feel like, because this one might get me tripped up, hold on, because I don't want to say anything that's like very problematic up, hold on, because I don't want to say anything that's like very problematic. But I feel like when you're in the hood, you're like the situation that you're in is the challenge, like you were put in.

Asiah:

That challenge, yeah, and it's hard to get out of that it is easier to adapt because that's all that you're used to.

Asiah:

Yeah if you're used to it, then of course you're going to be okay with that certain thing always happening, constantly happening, and that's very sad, like that's and I feel like that's why I don't take stereotypes in a certain way, because I feel like some are accurate, some are not, so you have to just take it with a grain of salt and keep going. But at the end of the day, I feel like nobody knows how the hood is, unless you been through things in the hood or you grew up in the hood, because, in reality, what is the hood Like?

Asiah:

what is the hood? Is it the environment or is it the person?

Xander:

And do you think like the media portrays it?

Asiah:

I feel like, okay, for example, kendrick and drake. With that I feel like kendrick he is actually from the hood and in his music he portrays it in a certain light, to where he can rap about it because he's been through it. But with drake he hasn't been through it but he loves to rap and talk about it. But you know how they always say real gangsters move in silence. He moves like kendrick, he'll speak on it, but he won't speak too much. Drake, he'll tell the whole story, beginning to end in, and and he just it just doesn't give. Oh, I'm from the hood, but he wants to be from the hood until it's actually time to be from the hood.

Xander:

Yeah, I feel like the media kind of. I think it glorifies it in all honesty.

Asiah:

Yes.

Xander:

And I feel like white people try to like. From the school that I went to in high school they would have this what is it? Facade Like persona.

Asiah:

Yeah, oh yeah I'm from the hood.

Xander:

You're from Glenlock. Glenlock is one of the most richest areas in Houston you know yeah.

Asiah:

So it was like it's just like saying I'm from the hood, yeah.

Xander:

I'm from.

Asiah:

Mansfield.

Xander:

Exactly. It doesn't mix, like I noticed, even with black people that are not from the hood, they want to have that persona of being from the hood, which I never really understood. That but I could, I would say I would like I have gone through that phase like, oh yeah, I feel like it's the hype.

Asiah:

Yeah, it's the hype, because they really don't know what it is I came from nothing and I'm now.

Xander:

Yeah, it's the hype of more.

Asiah:

So trying I wouldn't even say clout, I would say trying to have that image of a tough guy like you're a tough guy.

Asiah:

Oh, I'm a tough guy because I came you don't know what I've seen that stuff like that and it's never been that type of situation in reality, because you can always tell the people who have been through it and the people that want to go through it and without actually understanding what they have to go through. You know what I'm saying and I'm actually one of those people like I listen and I understand it, but I'll never actually fully 100% understand it because I never went through it.

Xander:

I have empathy, but I can't relate.

Asiah:

I can't relate, because it was never something that I had to my mom and dad. They were divorced.

Asiah:

My mom and dad got divorced when I was three years old, so I've never, ever seen my parents together in a setting, but they did what they had to do to raise me as a unit, and so that's why I feel like it's way different than having two parents in the same household, but it felt like I still had two parents in the same household because of how they parented me, and so that's why I feel like my upbringing was different than my siblings upbringings because they were at a different stage in their life when they had me, and that's why I wasn't born in the hood when my brothers were born in the hood.

Asiah:

We have Fort Worth, texas stop six, that's where most of my siblings were born besides two of us and that was me and my younger sister because we came in a different part in my parents' lives and so I feel like they they struggled and they did what they had to do with them, because they actually grew up with my siblings. In my opinion, like my siblings made them grow up in order for them to have me and my sister yeah, you know same with my parents, and I think it's very important to understand the difference like just because my family's from the hood doesn't mean I'm hood.

Asiah:

Or just because my family went through things.

Xander:

I didn't go through those things because my mom didn't put me in that environment to go through those things and I think, like with being in the hood, being from the hood, there's always a cycle. There's always like, and it's very hard to break, especially going around seeing the same things, doing the same things Like me and my boyfriend were having this conversation not too long ago. We get real iffy when it comes to this stuff.

Xander:

But he's from the hood, I'm from the suburbs, so, like our, our views on the black community can sometimes be different or have a different approach, but it's not exactly what it is. So, like we were having a conversation about like the cancers of the and he was saying, well, he thinks like the drug dealers are the cancers and the prostitution, and this, this and that, and then from my point of view, I was saying I don't think that's correct. I think it's the drugs that was in the community that's the cancer, because were they placed or grown Exactly Like? This is stuff that is being placed in your situation. So I can't blame anybody. I can never blame anybody for being a product of their environment.

Asiah:

Yes, and then that becomes the trend, the product of the environment. Because they feel becomes the trend, the product of the environment, because they feel like, oh, this is a trend. This is something that I want to do, because I see people around me doing it and I feel like that's how they grow. It grows as a unit.

Xander:

You know, you got one home boy that starts selling something and then, oh, let me get on yes, because they're seeing that. So therefore, like so, I do believe in the product of your environment. Get on yes, because they're seeing that.

Xander:

So therefore, like so I do believe in the product of your environment yes, and just because you're always like if, like the little boy from, did you hear about the dallas shooting? It just happened not too long ago, a couple weeks ago, but this is right after the whole. Austin mcclap what is his name? Austin mcclap, oh, yeah yeah.

Xander:

so, like what happened in d Dallas, he shot up a school and you know this is right after this situation. So a lot of people on TikTok I was, I found out, I found out on TikTok and then, like I go on the on the uh comment section, it's a whole bunch of white people like oh, another one, or this is what they do, or da da, da, da, da, da da da da, like there wasn't just a shooting in Florida Right before this. Oh, I get what you're saying.

Xander:

It's always them trying to count out or count in the white people in their situations and then they're making jokes about the whole situation Like, oh well, maybe BLM can buy them a house, and da, da, da, da da.

Asiah:

Because it's a joke, because it, because it's a joke, because it has, they feel like it doesn't relate to them yes, and I don't.

Xander:

I don't sympathize for him, but I sympathize for his family. Like, at the end of the day, this is the stuff that he's seen. This is the stuff that he's in in the video that he was talking. Like he made like this whole video, like, oh, I did this because I'm tired of seeing my people in the ground. He thought violence was going to fix that. After he just said violence is the reason why he's doing this. So it's. It's that ongoing cycle. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. It's the ongoing cycle of okay, well, I'm seeing this in my community, I'm seeing this with my homeboys. Repetition I can you know? This is this will solve that issue.

Asiah:

And then it also I feel like it's ruining the new generation. That's always because you have siblings looking up to you, because looking up to you and he was 17, so he's young.

Xander:

Yeah, he's really young.

Asiah:

They want to do what you do because you do it, because they think what you're doing is cool. You set the, you set the tone or you set the train, because that's all they see or that's all they know. So I definitely understand that.

Xander:

And I like there's always a trend when it comes to it. Like you were saying, there's a trend like okay, well, my dad was slinging stuff, so now I'm like yeah, I'm uh in that whole like glorifying on the media like bm, what is it? Bmf? Yes, bmf.

Asiah:

Actually, you know, I'm just gonna sign up. I love that show, I love it too, it teaches you what not to?

Xander:

do. I love it too, but still it's like, and I'm seeing on tiktok instagram.

Asiah:

Yes, oh, I'm trying to be like because, have you noticed, in a lot of rap songs they refer to big beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's something that you really need to be like after he just got out of jail this year exactly 30 years later it's enough.

Xander:

Exactly so. I just it's sad like seeing from the outside, looking in, like I don't believe that drug dealers and prostitution and this, this, and that that's not the cancer, it's what is being put in the communities.

Asiah:

Yes, and then what's being put into the communities can also set the community back to a different point. You know because you can take two steps forward and take three steps back, based off of the people that are actually in the community. Exactly, I feel like they bring the some. Some people bring value down in the community. I think it's a very. It's a serious thing, and but it's also a humbling thing because it teaches you again what not to do.

Xander:

And my boyfriend was saying like sorry, I don't mean to bring up all the time- we was like this was a good conversation, but we got into it after.

Xander:

But he was also saying, like people that are in that situation, that if they don't want to change their situation, then they're. They're wrong too, and my thing is I can never be. I can never get upset at somebody for being selfish If they're always being put in that predicament that I have to survive instead of I have to live. There's no. I can never say, oh, you're wrong for thinking about yourself or thinking about yourself and your kids Like, it's just, that's not. You can't say, oh, you're wrong for thinking about yourself or thinking about yourself and your kids like, right, it's just, that's not.

Xander:

You can't make nobody do exactly exactly like just because you took yourself out of that situation doesn't mean your homeboy wants to take himself out that situation.

Xander:

I agree not everybody wants to join the army, not everybody wants to be a doctor, not everybody wants to. You know, especially with the education that comes with being in the hood as well, like there's some things that he like. He says I'm like what did you just say, you know, like you should do a double take. Yeah, it's like what, but I feel like that's just that's, that's what implemented in his community. It's just the lack of education, the lack of resources, the lack of not saying that they're not like they're not educated, but it's the way that they're, the way that they're being taught, is just not the product of your environment yes, very yes and like he was always taught to survive, not to to live.

Asiah:

Yeah.

Xander:

Gotcha, and it was completely different for me, and that's exactly how I feel.

Asiah:

Yeah, it's completely different, but I feel like, even though I'm not from the hood me growing up in the suburbs and being around the people that I'm around I feel like it did make me to the person that I am today. It's a learning experience, because it's not like I don't have my family. It's not like my family is not from the hood or I haven't seen this and seen that, but some of the people in my family teach me exactly what not to do and I just appreciate that example because I will continue to be me and do me.

Xander:

Can't nobody change me when it comes to things like the product of my environment is very, very strong and that's the thing, like I feel, like with me and you, we see like, okay, well, I have ample of opportunity, opportunity to do this, but they don't have that.

Asiah:

It's all about if you take the opportunity to exactly there's opportunities presented in front of you, and some people will mess up their chances based off of oh well, ain't nobody like me ever did nothing like that, so I don't know, they just messaged you all the way up it kind of like a discouragement, yeah, and I feel like that's why everyone stays in the same environment that they're in and then like the whole take no, I'm about to get into the present.

Xander:

I ain't finna do that, but yeah. So like what would be your final thoughts, like what's your, what's your outtake on all of this, the hood?

Asiah:

does not make you.

Xander:

It can break you or fix you and I feel like you have to have. There's certain people that have that mindset of oh, I need to get out of this, but I can never not be. I can never not be me yeah, like it's okay to be okay with the situation that you're in, as long as you know that you deserve better and they always say, like with the hand that you're dealt, it's up to you to determine if you want to use that hand, play that hand or give the hand.

Xander:

Yes and it's very hard to you know. Get that hand when all of your hands are the guns are being placed in your community. Yes, the situation is just the good it hold on. Your whole situation, oh, your whole situation is so.

Asiah:

You cannot be above what you're in does that make sense, it makes sense, I, I get it. Yeah, yeah, we right here, right here.

Xander:

And with that being said, Asia and Delka O'Zander out Out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out, out Out.