New York is known to be a place to absorb things from different places.
Like New York used to be "pretty" hip-hop, with the parted eyebrows and MCM trenchcoats, then New Jersy came with the rugged style. A few years later, New York-style equated rough, rugged, and raw.
For me, I think the fact that New York even adopted Bloods & Crips, it's garbage. New York used to laugh at that gangbanging ish. Sure, you'll have people saying "Well, NY had gangs in the 60's and 70's", sure, but they weren't Bloods & Crips, and they weren't that big, and organized.