Natalie’s Rant: When Did “Urban” Start Meaning Black People?

Posted on by Ms. Marcie

My girl, Natalie, brought to my attention that “urban” is being used to refer to Black people, or people of color.  She said that she went to K & G (not sure if it was online or brick & mortar), and saw that Sean Jean, Baby Phat and other brands created and worn mostly by African Americans were classified as “urban.” 

Generally speaking, Black people tend to come to mind first when color is used.  Anyway, I looked up the word urban.  Merriam-Webster says urban is “of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting a city.”  The following definition was the first to appear when I did a Google search: what does urban mean?

  • relating to or concerned with a city or densely populated area; “urban sociology”; “urban development”
  • located in or characteristic of a city or city life; “urban property owners”; “urban affairs”; “urban manners”
    wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

    • So, what is my point?  In neither of these definitions does it say anything like ‘of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting Black people” or “relating to or concerned with a black populated area.”

    This leads me to my next topic.

    When I looked up urban gear, Akademics, Baby Phat, LRG, ECKO, Apple Bottom, Coogi, Sean Jean, Rocawear and Dereon were just some of the names that came up.  Most of these fashions are equated with Hip Hop. 

    So, has urban come to  mean Black people in general or only when it relates to consumerism? 

    Somebody talk to me.

    10 thoughts on “Natalie’s Rant: When Did “Urban” Start Meaning Black People?”

    1. According to journalist Glenn Reedus via Facebook, “It’s been that way nearly 50 years Marcie. “Urban renewal” was not for white neighborhoods–and that is when the urban term began to be widely applied to us.”

    2. Martin Lindsey’s thoughts via Facebook: “Yeah, I always thought that’s what it meant. Similar to ‘inner city’ even though African Americans aren’t the only people who live in inner cities.”

    3. I THOUGHT THAT WAT IT MEANT TOO GURLLLLL, OOOOOOOOPA

      OPPPPPPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAA

      OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPAAAAAAAAA

    4. Yeah, when I hear “urban”, the first thing that pops up in my mind is “nigger”.

    5. sadly, yes. I took a lit class a few months ago, and the prof was talking about a black female writer with a PhD who grew up in the rural South and writes about middle and upper class themes. He referred to her as an urban writer. Yet there is nothing ‘urban’ about her past or her career.

        1. No, sadly I didn’t. I was the only student of color in the class plus I didn’t want to embarrass the prof (though some of them need to be embarrassed!) Sometimes people get really upset if you ask them why they associate a word with a certain race.

    Comments are closed.