Strong Island

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Strong Island is a hip hop slang term used to describe Long Island in New York. While the exact date of the coinage is unknown, there are several claimants. For example, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the "Strong Island Boys" were a mostly white, middle class "gang" or "posse" which tried to emulate the mostly minority gangs they saw in New York City.[1]

As stated in an article in Newsday "To boost local black pride, Chuck D and the other WBAU DJs dubbed the Island Strong Island and gave special names to the emerging hip-hop strongholds - Roosevelt became The Velt and Uniondale was Chill City."[2]

The Rap Dictionary, dating back to mid-2004, simply defines Strong Island as "(n) Long island."[3] No derivation is provided.

The Strong Island Sound, an American Basketball Association expansion team, uses Strong Island as part of its name, playing off on the intersection of basketball and popular culture. Its name is a play on the Long Island Sound.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.archiesib.com/typo3/fileadmin/newsday%20articles/newsday_com%20-%20The%20Library%20@%20newsday_com4%20(2).htm
  2. ^ Sounding Off in Suburbia: For its pop musicians, Long Island is a place to love, lambaste or leave. But it sets the creative juices flowing, Newsday, accessed June 1, 2006
  3. ^ Rap Dictionary (part 3 of 4), dated May 1, 2004


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