Strong Island
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Strong Island is a hardcore-punk 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, working class "gang" or "crew" which in its early stages was closely associated with the skinhead and hardcore-punk subcultures, later they tried to emulate the mostly minority gangs they saw in New York City.[1]
For this reason many claim that the term Strong Island has it's origins in the local hardcore-punk and skinhead subculture. This seems likely since the Strong Island Boys street gang started as an almost exclusively skinhead street gang. It is very likely that the term predates its use by hip-hop culture since many of the local skinhead and hardcore bands used the term in their lyrics as early as the mid 80's.
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
- ^ http://www.archiesib.com/typo3/fileadmin/newsday%20articles/newsday_com%20-%20The%20Library%20@%20newsday_com4%20(2).htm
- ^ 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
- ^ Rap Dictionary (part 3 of 4), dated May 1, 2004
