On Friday, up-and-coming Atlanta rapper Omeretta the Great dropped the song “Sorry Not Sorry”, which sparked a debate online about who is really considered an Atlantan based on where they grew up.
The City of Atlanta itself is relatively small, with a population of just about 500,000 people. Metro Atlanta? As defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, it’s 29 counties and more than 6 million people.
Omeretta prefers a definition that is even narrower than the city’s boundaries. She lists places that are “not” Atlanta to her such as College Park, Lithonia, Forest Park, Lilburn, Roswell and Decatur. She also omits Clayton and Gwinnett counties.
“I’m talking about the 1, the 3 and the 4,” she raps, referencing three of the six Atlanta Police Department zones, all of which are on the South side and heavily African American. “The old, not the new Atlanta.”
She ironically does much of her music video at Cobb County’s Truist Park parking lot.
Many folks in the heart of Atlanta were upset that the Atlanta Braves a few years ago abandoned Turner Field and moved to the suburbs (even though Truist Park’s mailing address still lists it in Atlanta).
One TikTok explainer who goes by the name The Classiiics provides a more detailed explanation of Omeretta’s definition while noting that he is from Stone Mountain but when an outsider asks him where he’s from, he says “Atlanta” because it’s easier. But when he’s around locals, he says he’s from Stone Mountain, not Atlanta.
So far, her YouTube video has landed about 278,000 page views as of Monday morning and was No. 15 on YouTube “trending music.”
As TMZ noted, she basically said some R&B and rap stars considered native Atlantans are not native Atlantans. Examples include Ludacris, 2Chainz and Monica (all from College Park), both members of Outkast (East Point), Donald Glover (Stone Mountain), Lil Yachty (Mableton), Omari Hardwick (Decatur) and Migos (Lawrenceville).
Exceptions: Future and Ciara (Kirkwood), Lil Baby (Oakland City), T.I. (Bankhead) and Gucci Mane (East Atlanta).
Here are a sample of social media reactions:
