'Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner'.. Are Londoners slowly loosing their identity?

So today I was sitting in my mothers car, on a pretty laborious journey listening to radio stations such as; ChoiceFm, Kiss100,Radio1 and CapitalFm, and the whiff of dissapointment infiltrated my nostrils not long after tuning in to each radio station about the horrible noise that was protruding out of the car speakers. These stations, in which all are based in London and claim themselves to be Londons No.1 music station, played near enough the same music for around 3 full hours. The most worrying thing about it is, I couldn't tell which station I was listening to because they all played the same American music and for a second I thought I was travelling on some long journey from west to east in the USA.


The point I am trying to make is that Londoner's in general are beginning to loose their identity to the American culture of today which for some reason, unbeknownst to me is so desirable. I mean a couple of years ago on the way to school, I could hear a variety of songs that all sounded different because they had difference influences, from UK Hip Hop to some American Indie Rock, it all sounded unique. But now London seems to be lost in the mire of America. I won't lie and say that British music is more successful than American music because it obviously isn't the case, but we should promote our homegrown talents and values over the country thats just over the pond. To be fair it has happened in some cases, such as Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk; although I wish it hadn't. But even they have become so commercial at times I think to myself whether some big American bloke has just wrote their lyrics and the music has no British influence, for example Champion and Till Im Gone.

The Bloodz and the Cripz rivalry goes far beyond
a normal gang rivalry.

Closer to home, this has become even more apparent as I explore Facebook, Youtube and Twitter and all I seem to see is people dressing up in a traditional American style, talking about all things American and quite sadly I even heard secondary school kids talking in a West Coast accent. The worst thing about this is that alot of teenagers and even young adults in London have lost some of their identity to the American way of life and some people have even convinced themselves that London is so rotten and so corrupt, people refer to their lives as though they are living in the gutter or slums like this is Compton Ave. or something. I think people actually find it fun to imitate the hardships in American life such as the gang culture, because out there the gangs mean alot more than a postcode or when someone comes up to you and says 'what school you from' or some nonsense. 

In UK gangs, violence is getting more common every year

Out in America we only watch the things on TV, but you can tell that the gangs give people a sense of identity out there because the ethnics are still treated like house flies in certain parts of the US, whereas here, despite the police at times being unreasonable and do target stereotypes do not treat teenagers or in fact anybody as bad as over there. I think sadly people want to think people are always out to get them, so they got to look 'Hard' and not show no emotion and act like they've come from the gutter. In the UK, London especially, people that join gangs or try to be something they arent, loose their identity and all the possibilities that their life holds.


I'm not saying London is all rosy because I know it isn't and the gun and knife crime continue's to get worse, but this addiction and fascination with imitating the American culture doesn't have to happen and before you think one day how bad of a life you have and 'the roads are cold' Remember you would rather live here than somewhere which is a real life slum or gutter such as Mexico or Rio De Janeiro.