I wrote this in response to this article, which was in response to "What is being Ghetto?"

She said:
Being poor and having to dress like a poor person, not like a superstar rapper with bling-bling like most people seem to think. I grew up in a neighborhood that was very poor. In fact, that whole side of town was like that. And no one dressed like that. People wore what they could afford. It makes me really mad when people dress in expensive, popular clothes and claim they are ghetto. They don't know anything about what it's really like. If they did, they wouldn't want to be that way because trust me, being ghetto is NO FUN!

I said:
Okay, allow me to explain. When you speak of the term "Ghetto" you speak of many things. Today's common use of the word "ghetto", especially a person being ghetto usually means something along the lines of urban and black. Ghetto is a lifestyle for a lot of black people living in the inner city. When I was growing up in my "ghetto" neighborhood, most of us didn't have a lot of money. I went to school with Payless gym shoes, some of my friends had the latest Jordans. Does that make me more ghetto? Could they possibly be more ghetto than me if they were wearing their $70 dollar jerseys? or the girls with the Gucci and Lois Vuitton purses and big gold earrings, who was more ghetto? One theme of being 'ghetto' that one has to understand is that name brands=stautus, and in the ghetto status means alot, as it does anywhere else. So, how do you increase your status (even if you are poor)? By buying expensive clothing, that way you can show everyone "Look what I have" a prime example of this attitude can be seen in the lyrics of Big Tymer's "Still Fly":

Gator Boots, with the pimped out Gucci suit
Ain't got no job, but I stay sharp
Can't pay my rent, cause all my money's spent
but thats ok, cause im still fly
got a quarter tank gas in my new E-class
But that's alright cause i'm gon' ride
got everything in my mama's name
but im hood rich da dada dada da. . .