Nope, just a suburban white boy who grew up on Long Island when rap was first becoming a genre of music. Was a metalhead in my younger days, never tried to emulate the rap/hip hop culture, just liked the music. I was the longhaired kid in the Metallica patched denim jacket for most of my teenage years, as far from a Malibu's most wanted looking poser as you could find.

I don't care for about 80% of current rap music. But everything from old school pioneers like Slick Rick, Doug E Fresh, Beasties and Run DMC to NWA, Snoop, Tupac and the like are good if you ask me.

My only street cred is I did see Boyz N The Hood on opening night, in a rather diverse neighborhood (and survived).