Da Hood

My new favorite hobby is researching gangs. After this post, you too might find yourself addicted to deciphering taggings, spotting tatoos, and shopping at Gen X.



Gangs are all about RESPECT and they are actually very well organized. Let's start with the Surenos. This is basicallly Spanish for "South siders" The Surenos are rivals with the Nortenos. The Surenos are part of the Mexican Mafia. The number 13 is used to represent Surenos because they are part of the Mexican Mafia, and the 13th letter in the alphabet is M.

When I say that gangs are well organized, I mean that the little Surenos branches (like ABG, 38th Street, CAM) pay a sort of tithing up to the big dogs, all the way up to the Mexican Mafia itself.

Surenos gang members wear the color blue and dis on the Nortenos anyway they can, but mostly by getting rid of the letter N. For example, if I saw a note written like this, I would know it is written by someone from Surenos: "Today in Spaxish class my friexds were laughing at the kid sittixg ix froxt of me."
Notice how the the letter N is eliminated.

The Nortenos wear red and are often represented by the number 14 (because N is the 14th letter in the alphabet). Look at this graffiti below.

The numbers 541 most likely mean that this gang is in Oregon. I know because 541 is an Oregon area code. (Gangs often identify themselves by area code. Sometimes they'll get 801 tatoos.)

You can tell this is Norteno graffiti because 1) the big letter N, 2) it's in red, 3) the letter S has been disrespected by putting a slash through it, 4) the huelga bird is also a Nortenos symbol, and 5) the X4 means 14. It combines the Roman Numberal X with the Arabic 4, totalling 14 and meaning the letter N.

See? Wasn't that fun?

THe Bloods are rivals with the Crips.

I know this is Blood graffiti because 1) it's in red, and 2) CK stands for Crip Killer. As the Bloods and Crips are rivals, that's a pretty good indicator. Blood members will cross out the letter C in their writings. Kearns Town Bloods is a prominent Blood gang in Utah.

Since CK stands for "Crip Killer", Crips will not put "ck" in their writings. So, for example, they will spell things differently, like "Welcome bacc" and they'll replace any CK with a CC. Crips use the color blue, favor the left side, and do the C-walk...which, I think, is spelling out "Crips" with your feet.



The final gang that we'll discuss here is Straight Edge. This is an interesting gang to me because they don't do drugs or drink alcohol. They pride themselves on being pure like that. The most violent Straight Edge gang is in SLC. Because Straight Edge members don't do drugs, they think everyone else should be the same way. So you might find graffiti like, "XXX kill your local drug dealer" or they will find some drunk guy at a park and beat him up. Their symbol is XXX or sXe (Straight Edge with an X in the middle) or just an X.

The letter X is used to symbolize Straight Edge because sometimes kids would go to see bands play in bars but they were under the drinking age, so an X was put on their hands to notify staff to avoid giving them alcohol. The X thus symbolizes their abstinence from alcohol and drugs. Straight Edge is an extremist gang and doesn't really have a set rival.

Now, knowing what you know about gangs, go check out your local Gen X clothing store. Look for hats with 801 or red or blue clothing. It's totally a gang store.

Other stuff to google:
Juggalos (they are freaky clowns who will show up to a gun fight with a hatchet)
TOP (Tiny Oriental Posse)