Every year this privately funded Washington D.C. think tank publishes the information on the safest and most dangerous cities in America. They generate their rankings by considering all the reported information submitted to the FBI’s database on crime and violence for cities with a minimum population.

They consider all types of crimes from homicides, rapes, burglaries, assaults, grand theft and other arrests then weigh these crimes depending on their seriousness. So while Philadelphia may outpace all American cities for their overall murder rate they were outranked by Camden, New Jersey, their neighbor across the Delaware river for the simple fact that there are far more people in Philly overall. Crime per capita is the operative term here. Camden is a depressed little one-horse burg now that all the manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas. But at the same time Camden is so hardbody that you can get juxed by a senior citizen.

In this years’ rankings of the most dangerous cities Detroit, Michigan has risen to the top, or is it the bottom? Word to Proof, the ‘D’ is fuckin’ hardbody deluxe. I made a trip to the ‘D’ a few years ago and I saw some shit I will never forget. In the middle of the night there are Black dudes walking all around the downtown area like zombies. They will try to pump your gas at the QuikChek or they will just beg you for change. Young dudes too. They need to form a homeless persons union out in that bitch and prevent these young dudes from joining until they have at least reached forty years old or been a military veteran.

If you’ve been watching C-Span with any regularity, and why would you, Hip-Hop has become congressional code for young Black males. Lawmakers have spent an inordinate amount of time discussing Barry Bonds’ ballsachs[ll] and the destructive impact of Hip-Hop music. I suppose that lying presidents, price gouging oil companies and the erosion of the Constitution are subjects that these congressional cowards are too shook to face up to. So now that Hip-Hop has been equated with criminality in the mainstream media, and let’s face it, per capita, which form of entertainment has more artists under indictment? Can we not also say that the most crime ridden cities are also conversely the most Hip-Hop? I think so. Let’s take a look at the top 25 most Hip-Hop cities…

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio
11. Orlando, Florida
12. Baltimore, Maryland
13. Little Rock, Arkansas
14. Compton, California
15. Youngstown, Ohio
16. Cincinnati, Ohio
17. Gary, Indiana
18. Kansas City, Missouri
19. Dayton, Ohio
20. Newark, New Jersey
21. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
22. Atlanta, Georgia
23. Jackson, Mississippi
24. Buffalo, New York
25. Kansas City, Kansas

Just looking at the top 10 the south could be considered the most Hip-Hop region in America if we consider Missouri to be part of the south bracket. The Midwest nearly keeps pace with three cities in the top 10. California holds the west coast down with two cities and the east only places one town in the top 10 list of most Hip-Hop cities. Ha! New York rap is dead because not enough people in New York are dying. Go figure.

When I consider the top 25 most Hip-Hop cities I have to concede that south wins by virtue of the fact that more people in southern cities stay losing. That’s what I love most about Hip-Hop. It exists in a perpetual state of Bizarro-like inverted values. Poverty is positivity. Snitching? Not so much. Where else do losers get to be winners? Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

Shouts go out to Ohio for being America’s most hardbody Hip-Hop state. Youngstown, stand the fuck up! It makes sense to me now that Ohio would be the most Hip-Hop state. I think about all the bands that have created music which is prime sample source material. The Ohio Players, Slave, Zapp, and of course Bone Thugs. Lil’ Bow Wow needs to start repping Columbus if he wants to get his street cred back.

As an added informational treat I thought I should include America’s least Hip-Hop cities (those ranked as safest) just in case any of you RapSpace rappers thought of repping your hometown…

1. Mission Viejo, California
2. Clarkstown, New York
3. Brick Township, New Jersey
4. Amherst, New York
5. Sugar Land, Texas
6. Colonie, New York
7. Thousand Oaks, California
8. Newton, Massachusetts
9. Toms River Township, N.J.
10. Lake Forest, California

WTF?!? Three cities from New York state in the top 10 for America’s safest cities? No wonder east coast rap has sucked so bad lately.

More From XXL