Notes to ‘Merica, CC the world: one lives “on” Long Island, not “in” Long Island. Further, if one lives in Brooklyn or Queens, although technically on Long Island, that’s actually in New York City, specifically two of its four outer boroughs, the others being the Bronx, on the mainland where the bulk of New York State lies, and Staten Island, another island altogether separate from both Long Island and the also separate island of Manhattan, which is what most people are thinking about when they say, “The City,” although for many Long Islanders, that just means any of the five boroughs.
All of the above underlines further blurred and obscure demarcations, like where Long Island’s Nassau County ends to the west and Queens begins to the east. For example, Floral Park is legally and geographically in both communities, although somehow Bellerose and Elmont, which appear further west if you look at a map, are actually technically only part of Nassau. One could write a head-scratcher of an urban planning essay about this… or, for that matter, a Tiny Mix Tapes premiere for a group from around here called URBVN ARCHITECTS NYC.
Where the trio of Josh Alias, Yung K, and Blaq Kush bridged bars, bravado, and erudition on their aptly titled group debut, Mutual Understandings, each holds his respective square on their second project, the three-song Triple Threat EP, because the mature youthhood of old New York is an experience unto itself, in which every person is an island, and out here, in the border lands beyond the outer boroughs, there are no buffered subway lines underground, only sewers and bomb shelters. Still, danger below:
More about: Blaq Kush, Josh Alias, URBVN ARCHITECTS NYC, Yung K
