In reality, "the hood" is just a subjective term. Everybody has a way of describing certain neighborhoods. In places where there is a reputation for drug dealing and violence, that's what people call the hood. It's a reputation that is earned through the actions of these people. You don't have to live in that type of place to understand it. It's not a secretive thing.

That doesn't mean every single person in a bad neighborhood is a gangster, but the facts still remain. A bad neighborhood is a bad neighborhood.

But why does this matter in the subject of one man? He's a murderer. Does it matter how common it is? It's become all too common, but one is already too many.

That's kinda' my point with Hernandez and his gang affiliation. Anyone can get a tattoo, the guy grew up in Bristol, Connecticut for crissake ... 87% white population with a median income of approx. $58,000.00 ... hardly a hotbed of gang activity ... when did they find the time to jump him in? In between classes at Bristol High School? Or did they do it during his college football days? He was just allowed to run in certain circles because of his celebrity, IMO, and reveled in the notoriety/reputation of being a "gangsta" like many of his peers. He just had the nuts to pull the trigger a few times.

It's a façade perpetrated by many in the rap and athletic communities and while may be considered "cool", is just counter-productive, IMO. Why can't these guys grow up saying, "I grew up in a decent neighborhood, halfway stable home/environment, went to school, applied myself, got an education, a job or professional career and am proud to be a productive member of society" rather than all the smoke-n-mirrors?

Instead, it's more hip to try and be a gangbanger or Tupac, . That's what the kids aspire too. And then we wonder why we got 9 year olds getting arrested for home invasions, shootings and the like ... it's because they're trying to be "cool" like their heroes they see in the news/media, .