hood

Adjective: Someone who is from an inner city and expresses the essence of urban culture. Not to be confused with ghetto because a person can be hood but not ghetto at all. Describing a person as 'hood" can be a positive compliment but describing someone as ghetto is usually derogatory. Many people that are "hood" are successful, classy individuals who not only survived the perils of the inner city but love their hometown and have a desire to make it better for everyone there. Whereas people described as ghetto are usually poor, trashy and uncouth. Back in the day, many "ghetto" people lived in the projects. "Hood" describes people from the hood who were raised with the hip hop era but are not and have never been ghetto. Many grew up in middle class households in the hood. They are home boys and home girls.