Here’s an excellent article about the nonsense of all the recent discussion of Kobe Bryant’s ‘street cred’ – Bryant doesn’t need criminal record to possess street credibility. I, like the author of that article, have issues with the use of the term ‘street cred’. Most of the reporters who are throwing that term around have no idea what it means. As the article says:
What in the world is “street cred” anyway? Where did that term even come from? Is that a politically correct way of saying ghetto pass? It implies people from the streets glorify criminal activity.
I do have one tiny issue with part of the article:
The interesting thing is that Bryant might have more “street cred” than people think. While it’s obvious he’s not as celebrated as Iverson, how was it determined he doesn’t already have it?
It can’t be jersey sales. Bryant’s No. 8, according to an April 17 article on the NBA’s Web site, was the most popular jersey sold during the 2002-03 season on NBA.com and at the NBA store in New York City. Iverson’s jersey was second.
Depending on one’s definition of ‘street cred’ that statement can be disputed. For argument’s sake, let’s use this definition – ‘Street Cred (credibility) can be defined as whether or not black urban youth think they can identify with a person as “one of their own” or JAG (just another guy).‘ I seriously doubt that Kobe’s jersey outsell’s Iverson’s in the ‘hood. Surely a large portion of Kobe’s jersey sales are to mainstream America.
Besides that one point, the article does a great job of showing how silly all the talk about ‘street cred’ has become.
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