This doesn't seem a likely perception. Most thugs live in the hood and are usually under the age of 40 years old, and are therefore are likely to date women of the hood who are under about 30 years old. Are you trying to date young so-called 'hoodrats?'
Professional women (nurses, teachers, BA's degrees or higher, corporates) are not likely to live in the hood, are likely to be over 35 (I'm guessing). So I would think they are not looking for thugs and not interested in dating thugs. Thugs usually look good to younger women (under 30) and also to women who aren't as highly educated (meaning they have high school diploma or less).
When people make statement such as this, it makes me wonder what type of people they are going after that they aren't getting.