June 08, 2004
Are Ya' or Ain't Ya' Ghetto Fabulous? Web Site Puts Your Hood-wise Fabulosity to the Test
Okay, so you're thinking about the weekend. You're thinking maybe--just maybe--you'll gussy yourself up and get together with your friends for a dusk-till-dawn marathon of clubbing, hip-hop music-video style, ya' know, sipping Cristal, bling-bling and all that shit. But, oh, what to wear? Dolce & Gabbana? Vuitton? Gucci? Does that Day-Glo blue Kangol hat go with that patterned black-and-lime-colored Versace shirt?
Damn it, kiddies! Pay attention--Getting the couture right is no laughing matter! If you're looking for a look, then maybe you should get your
booty-liscious self over to Ghettofabulous.com, a Web site devoted to weeding out the ghetto fabulous wannabes from the ghetto-fab real deal.
The Web site's tagline sums up the idea perfectly: "Who's Ghetto? Who Ain't? You Vote!" Ghetto Fabulous is a twist on the much-copied "Hot or
Not" idea made famous a few years ago by the Web site AmIHot.com.
There are four categries from which to choose when voting: "Fabulous," "Ghetto," "Ghettofabulous" and "None." On the left hand side of the Web
site is a "Ghett-O-Meter" showing the percentage of votes in each category for each photo and the total number of votes.
But how do you define ghetto fabulous? The site doesn't so much help to define the expression as much as demonstrate how widely opinion varies.
Some times we'd vote someone "Ghettofabulous" when the majority had voted that person merely "Ghetto." Other times our vote was in agreement
with the majority.
A brief sampling of about two-dozen photos suggests several styles. There are the truly ghetto fab, who are authentic and sublime. Then there
are the aspiring ghettofabulists, usually white men in their 20's who come across as a bad parody of a parody--think a clone of Jamie Kennedy's
B-Rad in Malibu's Most Wanted.
Then you've got the the crunky porn-star types, often clad in a thong, covered in still-dripping body mist and legs spread wide apart in a
louche pose. Finally there are the photos of folks who look like they're just doing this for a lark--tall, skinny WASPs dressed in tuxedoes and
standing in a verdant suburban backyard. As Missy Elliot would say, Whateva--Whateva!
After reviewing and voting on over a couple of hundred or so photos, our favorite and most ghetto fab goes to the girl pictured above. Now that,
little ones, is STYLE!
But look, kids, let thee be warned: GhettoFabulous.com is some addictive shit. It really is shocking how easy it is to get sucked into the Web
site and keep voting for hours and hours. It's kind of like Doritos: once you've had one, you just can't stop.
--Ivan "Micropundit" Corsa
Style Column: Beyond Ghetto Fabulous [LA Weekly]
RELATED LINKS
9 Definitions of Ghetto Fabulous [Urban Dictionary]
Culture: The Meaning Behind Ghetto Fabulous [Mr. Blunt]
Posted by typhoon at June 8, 2004 10:55 PM
