So You Want To Be A Baller Shot Caller....

i grew up in the era of starter jackets. the starter jacket for the young ones wasn't necessarily a fashion marvel, nor was it a utilitarian beast like the carhartt but it was a useful staple. before the gangs adopted the new era cap as the helmet du jour, gangbangers passed of the love of collegiate and professional sports as a way to fly their colors. bloods use to rep UNLV (the runnin' rebels and coincidently alma mater of blood affiliated big homie -- suge knight)and some crips use to back the blue devils of duke university. in them days, it came down to who was worth the 89 bucks and who on those cold nights when you're hanging about who would you want sprawled across your back. essentially, you were repping some set (your town ala the l.a. raiders, your gang colors, your block). the top of campaign season reminds me alot those days. someone is always checking for who you're repping and how you repping whatever set you plan to throw down with. you only have to look at the iowa caucus to see this interaction in play.

iowa is not representative of the electoral body, nor is it a true allegory of 'democracy in action', and it doesn't hold any strategical strength -- yet it's in play. at best a caucus win represents the same as the gold star, for remembering your 9 times table, did in fourth grade -- a big old good for you...now you have three more sets to go before we let you off the hook. the candidates have landed flooded the airwaves with radio spots, tv spots, and plenty of mailers which in essence read 'come bang with me'.