What Is Swagger?

If you have to ask - you probably don't have it.
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People who assume that it is some sort of affectation just don't get it.

People who think that it has anything to do with race, religion, gender, or sexual preference fail to grasp the concept.
What they imagine it to be is the image shown them by the popular media.
(But they have no experience with it themselves.)
Jazz, The Blues, R&B, Rock and Roll, Punk and Hip Hop all were originally examples of Swagger.
Each genre rejected the rules and limitations which were accepted by those who came before them in favor of the rules and limitations determined by themselves.

Poor kids often have Swagger.
Why?
Because they have to.

Think about the coolest kids in school.
No, not the rich kids - but those who are still respected without the need (ability) to wear their status on the breast area of their shirts as though the label could act as some form of armour to ward off their insecurities.
No, it's best shown by those who refuse to be defined by their economic status.
It's shown by those who can make something from nothing.
Why are seven year old suburban girls, little babies and Chinese kids dancing to All The Single Ladies as though they were working the pole at the Spearmint Rhino?
Why do suburban kids wear baggy clothing.
Why do suburban kids and newscasters attempt to speak in Ebonics when trying to sound relevant?
Why do more suburban kids know more words from Weezy than they do from Rush Limbaugh?
Why do suburban racists still get exited about running into Jay-Z, Kobe or Oprah at the airport?
Swagger transcends economics.
The coolest kids in school were usually the biggest sports stars.
Many of these kids came from less than desirable neighborhoods and were from less than desirable (for some) ethnic groups.
Many of these kids could also fight.
Many of these kids were the most dominant and feared kids in their school yard social settings.
As others tried to emulate their appearance and actions in an attempt to feign the same dominance - many kids unknowingly spread the influence of the hood to the suburbs.

But what was an affectation for one group of imitators was a necessity for the originals.
Think about today's clothing styles and your childhood.
Much of what we had to wear in tough times is what many of today's kids choose to wear in better times.
We used to slab to make it look as though our pants weren't flooding.
We used to keep our hair short and properly lined because keeping a Shag or Jherri Curl was too expensive.
We had baggy clothes because our older siblings passed them down that way and we hadn't grown into them yet.
We used to keep our shoes clean and white because they may have had to last us the whole school year while also serving as our dress shoes.
But as long as one wasn't a bitch, could play sports, had good jokes about another person, could get the girls and could at least pass most of their classes - that kid could be cool even though they may have been broke.
In most cases, the better off kids would pay for everything in order to be friends with the dominant kids.
The dominant kids knew this and would walk in the confidence of being dominant without even having to put forth much effort.
These kids showed true Swagger.
The kids who bought the right clothes, said the right things and walked the right walk in an effort to appear the same as those to whom Swagger came by necessity (and naturally) will never understand Swagger.
To them, Swagger is as unreachable a goal as having a longer penis.