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by G. Sax (@gsax)

T becomes concerned when I post a crap photo like the one to the right. So please allow me to uphold her reputation: Teresa's photos are fantastic and many people say so, including me. This image of downtown isn't one of hers. It's not one of mine either, for that matter. It's a screenshot of a video clip from a local hip hop group called Labratz.

If you're interested in St. Paul, you have to see this video. Click the image or click here. I'm not their promoter, okay, and I recognize that it's unpolished and somewhat townie. They're not even the first local hip hop act to provide a local stamp. Atmosphere, the Unknown Prophets, and Heiruspecs are three that immediately come to mind for rhyme-time localizing.

Outside of rap, I love the way The Hold Steady drop local references on a national scale in their music. I even like how "one went to Chicago and the other to Saint Paul" in Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band."

I'm a sucker for my city. Hip hoppers in particular know how to hype their hometown to the point you can't think of them without thinking of their city. Snoop = Long Beach. Nelly = St. Louis. Ludacris = Atlanta. I think that's pretty cool. I'd like it if people looked at me and thought, "Man, that's some serious Saint Paul right there."

I know hometown pride and passion when I see it, and I enjoy the Labratz song because I believe them. I can't think of anyone else giving props to Ruth Street, Payne Avenue, and the Sun Ray Shopping Center.

Lines like "Down University, you'll find so much diversity" and "From Highland to the Mississippi River, Maryland down to East Side Liquors" are priceless to me. "From Rice and Dale, they'll send you right to jail" straight gives me chills.

Sure, these Saint Paul-related couplets are kinda stupid out of context, but all real estate is local, right? And I can't help but to get all worked up over the mention of the streets I grew up on. For some, neighborhood pride is manifested in manicured lawns. For others, it's an area code and a dirty strip mall.

Don't get me wrong: I love me some St. Paul Grill and Cafe Latté, Fitzgerald and Keillor. I look well upon poetry of another sort, like the set of Everyday Poems for City Sidewalks that T wrote about on this blog.

But no matter how well I eat or how sophisticated I read or write or how pretty I talk, I'm one of the others and I don't try to hide it. This is where I'm from.

Atmosphere, "Shhh" | Unknown Prophets, "The Road Less Traveled" | Labratz, "Where We're From"