Reality Series Chronicles Lives Of Spoiled Black Teens

"I have no problem with the Hills," 18-year-old Staci assures on yesterday's premiere of the Black Entertainment Television reality series "Baldwin Hills". "They have a problem with me."

Like many outsiders — Staci is the lone female cast member who doesn't live in the titular neighborhood — she is a bit defensive and too proud to really admit it, instead passing judgment on the show's better-heeled girls by feigning disinterest. "Let them do what they do," she says. "Be bougie."Clearly inspired by MTV's "Laguna Beach", "Baldwin Hills" follows a handful of teens who live in and around the so-called black Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles, California area. "Not all black people live in the ghetto," goes the show's intro. "This is our 'hood — big houses, manicured lawns, amazing vistas." The Unusually Entitled Young Person has become a familiar television trope in recent years, but save for reruns of 'The Cosby Show" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", black teens in this income bracket are largely absent.

Vibe magazine writes: "The series depicts the privileged - and pressured - lives of some of Los Angeles's freshest princes and princesses of 'Black Beverly Hills' - and contrasts them with the experiences of teens from a less privileged neighborhood around the corner. One such instance involves Gerren, a 16-year-old junior / fashion model whose Italian Vogue and Elle cover shoots led Oprah [Winfrey] to deem her 'mini-Naomi.' Staci, an 18-year-old from Dorsey High School, lives just below Gerren's wealthy neighborhood, but insists she goes through the same things as the rich girls. Then Gerren visualizes her dream whip: 'I want pink Gucci linen with pink fur and pink rims.' Cut to Staci: 'Maybe not,' she says, with a slight roll of the eyes."