You know, I was a social worker for about 7 years before I got my head screwed on right and went to law school. One of the frustrating aspects of african american culture (and I'm not being rascist or trying to pick a fight, I'm only reflecting on my experiences and offering a candid opinion), is that the culture has identified itself with expressly not identifying itself with anything remotely "white" or representative of a culture of percieved oppression, which would include mainstream economic success and speaking grammatically correct english. It puts them in the bind of having to be "converted" to white style to be successful in the mainstream world, excluding sports, entertainment, etc.

The dean of my law school is african american, as are some of the professors. They can get down and talk "steet" if they want to, their success hasn't compromised their integity as people or african americans. Its too bad that you have to be a killa' or a thug or consider all women to be ho's and bi***es to be a true african american through the lens of rap culture.

Anyway, teen culture these days is a disaster no matter what race you are. I wouldn't want to be a teenager today myself. Once through the eighties was enough for me.