Bmore gets a high 6 or 6.8 from me.
I’ll get the negatives against it outta the way first:
- Highly incompetent city government that cares too much about the Downtown/Inner Harbor area and not enough on the neighborhoods.
- Outside of the Downtown/Inner Harbor area, Baltimore can be kinda boring sometimes.
- Very limited light rail and subway access and coverage for a city of its size.
- Baltimore’s underground drug market has been deeply entrenched into the very fabric of the city for many decades that it’s practically a major shadow economy for the city.
- All tho they’ve gotten better, I’m still not much of a fan of their overall style/dress.
- It’s a shyt ton of dilapidated and decrepit housing in large parts of West, East, and South Baltimore, that’s gotta be maybe damn near 60% of the city.
- Racist ass police department.
- nikkas be on some real dumb shyt in that city at times to the point where it’s almost as if stupidity is celebrated. And they always be on some aggy shyt like chill tf out slim
- The crime rate has been seeing Chocolate City DC era rates over the past decade.
- Nightlife isn’t really a negative but it’s mainly just okay.
- You’ll either love or hate the Bmore accent. As well as the equally insane slang lol.
- Parts of the city is junkie central, like Lexington Market for example.
- Skyline hasn’t really evolved much since the 90’s. I was really disappointed when the 10 Inner Harbor project was tossed to the bushes. It would’ve been damn near 800 ft tall and could’ve been seen from a good distance along I-95 and be a nice new standout in Bmore’s cityscape.
- POTHOLE CITY
- Gradually diminishing population, most of it being Black folks.
- Downtown is pretty small.
- Sometimes it’s like Bmore nikkas don’t know if they wanna be like NYC, Philly, NOLA, or Memphis.
- Public school system is the worst in the whole state.
- Abysmal foliage in the streets compared to DC. Bmore be feeling like it’s exposed or something with not enough nature to bless all of its concrete.
- Gotta worry about the high taxes in addition to a City tax.
- Their beltway congestion is almost as bad as ours (DMV).
- nikkas be casually walking in the streets like they’re actual sidewalks and mean mug your ass like you in the wrong
Now on to the positives:
- One of the highest concentrations of Black-owned businesses in the country.
- A nice blue collar grit that’s reflected in its people and urban landscape that I actually appreciate and find enticing coming from the DMV. It’s a pretty interesting contrast to DC, which is just 40 mins away.
- Underrated food scene. Bomb ass seafood that’s second to none. People have stated good things about the city’s Ethiopian, Ramen, Italian, Greek, Salvadoran, etc.
- The city got a nice design and layout and is a less claustrophobic version of Philly when it comes to street width.
- Bmore has come a long way in having attractive women. I’ve noticed that some of the more nice looking Bmore females at my school (UMES) are either from the Westside or Northeast Bmore and it’s been a very consistent observation.
- Underrated music scene with legendary contributions to House music, Jazz, R&B, and Street Dance, in addition to being the birthplace of Club music. It also has a growing Hip Hop scene that’s finally been making some noise as of late. I’m also personal acquaintance with Ky$hia from FurlaGang if any of y’all Bmore posters heard of her and them. Slim can definitely spit and has her head and heart in the right place. She’s a cute ass Blasian too
- Again, you’ll either love or hate the accent lol. And their slang can be funny as all hell, not gonna hold you lmao. Bmore nikkas can be funny asf.
- Huge number of historically Black neighborhoods in almost every part of the city.
- Relatively cheap COL despite the taxes (it being Maryland after all).
- Love the overall Northeastern aesthetic and character of the city and its people with the slight Southern undertones.
- A classic city of neighborhoods.
- As a fan of rowhouses, Baltimore is deserving of the title of quintessential rowhouse city.
- Got one of the GOAT hood food scenes with the chicken boxes, western fries, saltpepperketchup, Old Bay wings, crab houses and crab shacks, Arrabers, pit beef, lake trout, half n halfs, Hip Hop Chicken & Fish, etc.
- Blessed us with The Wire
- One of the best major cities on the East Coast for higher ed opportunities with the likes of Morgan State, Loyola, MICA, UMBC, Towson, Coppin State, John Hopkins, UMD-Baltimore, etc.
- A more down to earth and less pretentious version of DC.
- Got some top notch suburbs in Howard County, Baltimore County, and even low-key racist ass Anne Arundel County.
- Got some dope ass institutions and attractions like the National Aquarium, the PowerPlant, The Block, Baltimore Zoo, ArtScape, Great Blacks On Wax Museum, Everyone’s Place, Baltimore Museum of Art, Bmore World Trade Center, Enoch Pratt Library, etc.
- Can be a quirky and eccentric city when it wants to be. The people can be naturally weird too.
- Got all the basics of public transit covered with buses, light rail, subway, water taxis, and commuter rail.
- Who don’t love the Ravens and the O’s?
- Still a predominantly Black city despite its shrinking population.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the crime rate, corrupt government, racist PD, and some of the messed up neighborhoods, Bmore would be one of the GOAT places to live as a Black person in America and my rating for Bmore could creep up towards an 8. Hopefully it will be able to pull that off in the near future.
