The shocking facts of where Bernard Hopkins grew up

[Sin City]

not all projects are crime ridden and drug infested...
I've lived in a pretty decent one before for a while as a kid.
wether hopkins is street or not I can't say.. I know absolutely nothing about Filly
i'll take KayJay's or the Bringers word for it since that's where they are from though.
I know Bringer came from a real bad part of Filly though.

[tyson]

You can grow up in a penthouse mansion and still have a rough time growing up.
Even if you live in a palace in Switzerland, you can go "street" on everyone around you and **** things up for everyone, including yourself.

[Hagler★]

in beyond the glory it say he moved to a nicer area of philly wen he got older

[Stormin' Norman]

tyson was from a hard hood, didnt do all that much for him in terms of longevity.

[kayjay]

I like how this was ignored

Orange Sneakers' pasted story only illustrates my point in making this thread: Hopkins invented a myth about his personal background in order to endear him to fans. It simply sounds more appealing if he claims he had a violent childhood and overcame it.

If he said the truth in those interviews: "my parents came from a rough part of town, but I was lucky. When I was a small boy we moved to one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. There were no drugs, gangs, or crime. I had a peaceful childhood. Later, when I found trouble, I did that on my own, without any bad influences from my immediate surroundings." . . . . . . it just wouldn't make for a heartwarming personal tale, nor would it make some of you think "he's a true ***ga from da streets."

So it makes a bit of sense that he and his financial advisers worked out this fairy tale of his, no?



Regarding the other points that have been raised:

1. As Shawn pointed out, Germantown has never been even a blue collar neighborhood, let alone a "******." It is and always has been white collar and/or old money.

2. Hopkins was born in North Philly, but as a very young child moved to Germantown.



It's funny to see people like sonofisis get so disappointed by this. What is wrong with the fact that some people have stable childhoods?


It takes nothing away from his merits as a professional boxer . . . which is kind of my point.

[kayjay]

not all projects are crime ridden and drug infested...
I've lived in a pretty decent one before for a while as a kid.
wether hopkins is street or not I can't say.. I know absolutely nothing about Filly
i'll take KayJay's or the Bringers word for it since that's where they are from though.
I know Bringer came from a real bad part of Filly though.

Here is an interesting case. The_Bringer is an emo f.ag, but he comes from one of the roughest ******s in America. As a kid I'd **** my pants when I had to go down to his neighborhood.

Being from the ****** doesn't make you tough. But kids who watch too much MTV think it's cool to be ******. Hence Hopkins and his financial team invented this story for you.

[Knicksman20]

Nice points grabber kayjay. You've successfully baited most.

[βetamax]

in beyond the glory it say he moved to a nicer area of philly wen he got older

Yep. He said his family moved out of the hood and into Germantown to get away from all the crime which he described as "not the hood but not the suburbs either". The fact is that he did rob people and he did go to jail.

[kayjay]

Nice points grabber kayjay. You've successfully baited most.

Sure there's a bit of deliberately controversial emphasis on my part. But there's some truth in it also.


Hopkins strategy is a very old one: some historians claim Ben Franklin didn't arrive in the Delaware harbor with only three pennies to his name, as he claimed. He wrote the story of his own life and made of himself the original "rags to riches" American hero.

When Hopkins refers to himself as "the American dream," he's partly telling the truth, partly piggybacking on this tradition.

[Sweet Pea 50]

Here is an interesting case. The_Bringer is an emo f.ag, but he comes from one of the roughest ******s in America. As a kid I'd **** my pants when I had to go down to his neighborhood.

Being from the ****** doesn't make you tough. But kids who watch too much MTV think it's cool to be ******. Hence Hopkins and his financial team invented this story for you.

I couldn't imagine a emo living in a rough hood, and lasting more then a couple of days.
Nobody wants to live in the ******. I mean the REAL ****. Bum's with shopping carts filled up with copper. Women with babies in their arms asking who has cracks, or horse. 13 year old kids walking around with guns on their waist, sporting a rag.
I grew up around **** like this.
I wish some of these kids that want to live the life could get dropped off in G-Parkway back in the 90's, and really SEE what living in a hood could be like.
I know **** is worse around the world.
But damn, when crack hit Morrison Creek...
It was like Night of the Living Dead. And I saw more then a few dope fiends get blasted for trying something...
Not to mention innocents dying over a 20 dollar bag.
I'm not harder then the next guy standing to me waiting at the bank.
I'm a everyday joe.
But the **** I have seen...