The Song that Almost Every Young Black Person on the Metro Green Line Knew

Something general that's always piqued my interest:  where do people get their music?  If not on the radio.

The past few weeks I've been wondering about Boosie Bad Azz.

On the Saturday that I biked to and from Marina Del Rey and ended up taking the Green Line to Avalon station, a young black woman was blasting her music for all Metro's patrons to hear.

Generally, I don't know why or care how people blast their music on the Metro.  Personally I think it's young folk trying to show something to the world, which I have mixed feelings about.

One song came on what appeared to be her Pandora playlist:



Boosie Bad Azz's No Juice.

Almost every young, (non-alternative, hipster) who heard was mouthing the lyrics.

One black dude holding a Madden 15 XBox One cover.  Several dudes who passed by.  Some women.

It was a popping ass song that I had to Shazaam.

Being a fan of rap/hip hop (most prominently of the Mos Def, Roots, Blue Scholars), I'd never heard of the song, which is considered "Dirty South", a sub-genre of rap that I probably I would never run into anyway.  Even if I listened to a Power 106 or KDAY, I don't think that any radio station here would play this.

Basically, it's a song about being real and not lying about how tough you are.

I did a cursory search of the song, and it turns out that Seahawks Running Back and current representation of intolerable/raw blackness Marshawn Lynch made mention of the song during an interview.

Just an everyday curiosity that makes me wonder about people's frame of references, in which music probably plays a big role in establishing or reinforcing an expressed identity.