Tigga, please: wannabe gangsta-ism among Tibetan refugee teens

One of the photographs I *wish* I'd shot in Dharamsala's "Little Lhasa" but didn't was a cafe popular with young Tibetan schoolkids, called "G-UNIT." Huh? Hip-hop in the Himalayas? When I saw that sign hanging on a windy, rocky, mountain road, I just about fell out of the rickshaw. I knew there had to be a story behind it.

Tenzin Wangyal, a contributor to the Tibetan community news site Phayul.net who grew up in Dharamsala, has posted a terrific essay on this odd culture clash.

It reads like something out of the Onion:

Why do young Tibetans dress up in hip-hop attire, and try to talk and act like gangsta rappers? Are these young Tibetans keepin’ it real or are they just wannabes? (...) Though I am not an expert and certainly don't have any insider information, let me throw in my “50 Cent”.

This seems to be the preferred dress code for most young Tibetans living in the US, Canada, even Europe and increasingly in India and Nepal: a loose baggy jeans hanging precariously below the waistline; an oversize t-shirt; a baseball cap worn backward or sideways; and, a pair of boots or sneakers at least 2 sizes bigger. Add the defiant swagger, some hand-signs and some expressions like Nawmsayin’? (Translation: you know what I'm saying?), and lo and behold, we have ourselves a Tibetan wannabe nigga, in short a tigga. No one should take offense at this epithet because I have seen the same young Tibetans refer to themselves by that name and regularly greet each other with a “Wassup, nigga?”

Before putting the fashion choice of our tigga brethren under the microscope, I will acknowledge that our youngsters are probably drawn to hip-hop fashion for the same reasons that millions of other young people throughout the world emulate this nonconformist, casual and rebellious counter-culture.

Link to the full text of Tenzin's essay.

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