Hipsters, Yuccies and the Black Urban Creative

America loves to bash hipsters

So the end of the hipster has finally arrived, or so they say. The (seemingly exclusive) white kid who attends college for a liberal arts degree of very little merit in this day and age who fashionably wears old dingy and ratty clothes and whose Ipod is filled with obscure indie bands that you never have nor ever will hear of has been replaced.

So I bashed them a little bit, but who doesn’t enjoy taking jabs at hipsters? The hipster has taken a back seat to the new young urban individual known as the “Yuccie”. The offspring of the Yuppie and Hipster cultures, Yuccies combine social awareness and enterprising creativity while tackling the new world around them.

The term which is an acronym for “young urban creatives”, was coined by blogger David Infante in his Mashable post titled “The hipster is dead, and you might not like who comes next.” The blog post was an insightful look into factors that have shaped this new culture of young career driven creatives as we move further into this new century.

A Yuccie is defined as a young adult who is self aware and doens't want to compromise their creative autonomy. Contrary to the popular hipster belief of minimalism, the Yuccie is still aware of prestige and materialistic success. It's like being a hippie but your mission isn't about a greater cause, it's still all about you.

Yuccies tend to be writers, musicians, artist (graphic, painters etc.), film makers and photographers who have the desire to profit off of their abilities rather than it just be a hobby or go work for someone else while they profit off of your work.

Yuccies have the potential to be rewarded more than any other generation within the past 30 years. They grew up with a constant flow of information that allowed them to enrich their brains during the final stages of adult development (roughly 18 to 25 when the adult brain is said to be fully matured). The importance of personal happiness and leisure could suggest that older generations didn’t have that luxury during their 20’s and 30’s (choosing to dine out more than eating at home and constantly vacationing as a young 20-something.)

What about the poor urban counterpart? How do we fit in with this new trend?  There are those in my age group who sucked it up, joined the man and started working to support themselves. No shame in that, but look at the definition of what a Yuccie is. It is the combination of a yuppie and hipster who both tend to be from an affluent backgrounds.

Are we excluded because being "cool" is usually associated

   with being black?

The black urban creative is excluded from the Yuccie culture by definition. A hipster or Yuccie that lives in an urban neighborhood lives there because of gentrification. A black urban creative lives in the hood by circumstance. Yuccies have the choice of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and the seasonal farmers’ markets. The black urban creative has the choices of a supermarket full of sugary and processed meats, fruits and vegetables.

By definition to be a Yuccie like much of America is to be “white” or not urban. Does my writing become invalid and not as attractive because of who is writing it? Did this fashionable Mashable article open up a dialogue that is much bigger than art? No matter your point of view, it does seem pretty easy to hate Yuccies just as much or perhaps even a little more than the hipster.