Hip hop slang
Hip hop slang is a varied accumulation of slang terms that changes frequently and is parallel to the evolution and use of hiphop.
Alternative Pronunciation
Used to shorten, alter, or change the sound of a word. Often used for ease of rhyming or to fit into rhythm, such as placing emphasis on the "O" vowel, while dropping the end consontants. Can also be used as self referential humor, by adopting a known variation in pronunciation used in local or regional settings, movies or popular media, dialects, accents, etc, with the end result of an intentional adopted spelling of this pronunciation.
- aight, aite, aw-ite - all right
- axe - ask I want to axe you a question
- befo' - before I told you this befo’
- biatch - bitch
- da' - the He's da' man."
- dat - that I love dat.
- dis - this I love dis.
- down - I'm up for it. I'm down.
- fitty - fifty He's fitty years old.
- flava - flavor
- flow - to rap, can also be used as a noun, ...listen to my flow...
- flo' - floor
- fo'(1)- For This is fo' my Aunt."
- fo'(2) - The number four. Can also refer to twenty-four inch rims.
- fo'(3) - Short for before, or any -fore suffix.
- ho - prostitute, short for "whore"
- holla - holler, to make contact via phone, sms, or any other media.
- mo' - more I can't stand it no mo’
- moo' - move moo’ over there for me
- nigga, niggaz - an african american term of endearment towards one another " whats crackin niggas?"
- 'sup - what's up
- wif - with
Alternative Spelling
Spelling that alters letters in a word but results in roughly the same pronunciation. The intent is to place more emphasis on a part of the word than in the traditional pronunciation.
- boi - boy
- phat - very cool
Conjoined Words
Words that are combined for ease of pronunciation, and to reduce the total number of syllables.
- Busta - snitch, "you's a busta"
- Fugly - Fucking Ugly, She looks fugly
- Hella - Hell of He's hella cool.
Partial Words
Uses part of a word to represent an entire word.
- bluh - a citation ( what up bluh?), bluh is usually it's Blood but the slang (" What Brackin' Bluh?")
- cuz - Short for because
- cuz(2) - A citation (what's up cuz?) / cousin, especially in Crips slang ("He's my cuz")
- feds - short for Federal Agents, refers to cops or other law enforcement agencies
- popo - cops, short for police
- po' - Poor He's too po' to afford a house."
- sitch - situation
- 1 time - the local police
Replacement Suffix
The ending of a word is removed, and replaced with a new suffix used as a substitute, much like Pig latin.
- Bizzle - Bitch
- Fizzle - Can be female, fuck, or any number of words starting with F
- Hizzle(1) - House
- Hizzle(2) - Hook, as in "Off the hook"
- Nizzle - Nigga
- Rizzle - Real
- Shiznit - Shit
- Shizzle - Sure
- Tizzle - Tizzy, a state of agitation or nervousness.
Actions
- bail - leave I'm gonna bail
- be - are, am, is - usually refers to location I be over here or He be sleeping right now.
- bent - intoxicated
- buggin' - acting in a manner which is not socially acceptable.
- bumpin' - to one's liking
- busta cap - to shoot a gun
- busta move - to act quickly, or to perform a dance move
- bust out(1) - to leave, to exit. He busted out of the club.
- bust out(2) - to show or introduce something. "He busted out a deck of playing cards from his coat pocket."
- bounce - to leave We finna bounce.
- chillin' - relaxing
- deuce- ugly girl
- dime - hot girl
- diss - to show disrespect His essay dissed my original thesis.
- fittin' or fixin' - going to do something I'm fittin' to buy me some cigarettes.
- gank - to steal He ganked my car.
- jet - leave We gotta jet.
- lunchin' - behaving erratically
- murk(1) - to leave I'm finna murk, PEACE.
- murk(2) - to kill I'm going to murk this clown.
- roll out - to leave
- scrap - to fight We scrapped in the back yard.
- spit - see flow.
- spittin game - flirting.
Anatomy
- Booty - buttocks, especially female
- Guns - Muscular arms
- Puntang, Poontang, Punanny, Pooty, Poot, pussy - Female genitalia
Brand Names and Commercial Trademarks
- Benz - Short for Mercedes Benz, known for luxury automobiles
- Cristal - Roederer Cristal, a brand of champagne
- Lex - Short for Lexus, known for luxury automobiles
Consumer products
- Bub - short for bubbly, i.e. champagne
- Rims - wheels of a vehicle, often a customized wheel replacing a manufacturer wheel, with an appealing design or "bling-bling" appearance. Size is also a factor, generally twenty to twenty-four inches denotes luxury or extra expense.
- Whip - Car.
- Timbs - Timberland boots
Drug Terms
- dime, dimebag, dimesack - a ten dollar "bag" of illicit drugs
- ice, ice cream, dream catcher - crystalized methamphetamine
- mac, bleazy - blunt
- nick, nickel, nickelbag, nickelsack - a five dollar "bag" of illicit drugs
- yayo, yay, yeo - Cocaine
- weed - bhudda, shwag, mota, bud, mary jane, dodo, green, fire, smoke, peace stick, watar, bluntos, bud, chronic, dodo, banga, ganja, dank, sticky,
- hydro - dro
Gang terms
- BG - Baby Gangsta, one who is a gangsta but never shot anyone.
- gangsta - member of a street gang
- playa - someone who is not monogamous / someone who's really in, someone who's got a lot of respect
- playa hata - One who hates others for having more than they do.
- thug - a young person who is caught up in the urban lifestyle
- wanksta - a fake gangster popularized by the song 50 Cent - Wanksta
- P.H.D. - Player Hater Degree
- OG - Original Gangster, one who has shot someone before
- Crab - Derogitory term towards a Crip gangster
- Slob - Derogitory term towards a Blood gangster
- Loc (prounonced loke ) - a term describing the level of gangster That nigga is loced out gangsta
Gun Terms
- Cap - bullet
- Mac 10, Mac - gun
- Nine, nina - 9mm handgun
- Piece - gun
- Strapped up - holding a gun
- ar - AR 15 machine gun
- k, ak - ak 47
- pump, shotty - shotgun
- pistol - gun
- gat - gun
- heat - gun
- biscuit - gun
- ruger - gun
- 4 pounda - 40 caliber gun
- 44 - 44 caliber gun
- Deuce Deuce - a 22 caliber gun
- Desert Eaze - Desert Eagle
Locations
- areous - area
- crib - place of residence
- hood - neighborhood
- bodega - corner store
- the shops - mall somewhere to go shopping
Numbers
- 187 - Homicide
- 213 - from, of, or referring to a southern California (telephone) area code
- 24,7 - all day hustle
- 313 - from, of, or referring to a Detroit (telephone) area code
- 411 - information, from the telephone directory service in the US
- 420 - Marijuana related, from the police code used for possession or use of Marijuana
- 5-0 - In reference to the police (as in the television show Hawaii Five-O) or the 5 liter Ford Mustang
- 808 - In reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine.
- 730 - the code for crazy
- 817 - Telephone area code for Fort_Worth,_Texas (funkytown, murderworth, and partyworth)
Concepts
- benjamins - Refers to 100$ bills after the American statesman Benjamin Franklin, whose face is on them. "It's all about the benjamins".
- bling bling - expensive jewelry or other expensive material possessions, refers to the imaginary sound of glistening metal or other shiny surfaces.
- bo janglin' – stupid, not paying attention
- busted - ugly Nigga, yo' girl is BUSTED
- dope - cool, tight
- dime - a very attractive woman, a "ten" on a scale of one-to-ten
- fly - appealing She is so fly.
- koolin' it - kickin' it. chilling.
- kickin' - appealing Those rims are kickin.
- straight - okay
- the shit - awesome, great. That man is the shit.
- tight - attractive Your car is tight.
- wack - not to one's liking This relationship is totally wack.
- ba-donka-donk - an incredibly attractive ass
Relationships
- baby mamma - girlfriend
- bitch - girlfriend (Just me and my bitch)
- boo - boy/girlfriend, beau
- boyz - gang friends
- brurva - a male acquaintance
- crew - One's good friends (similar to boyz)
- haps - mother
- hoodrat - girl with loose morals
- homie, homey, homeboy - friend
- jigga - acquaintance, alternate of nigga
- peeps - people, acquantainces
- shorty - girl, or girl on the side
- folk - southern slang for friend or acquaintance
- whoady - friend (once common in the south, now deprecated.)
Misc
- Jakes - cops
- Jonx - belongings
- Junk - stuff, belongings, male or female genitals
- Shit - stuff, belongings. Get away from my shit."
- lowckin - checking out the scene
Phrases
- da bomb - the bomb, i.e. cool, appealing, or popular
- fo shizzle my nizzle - for sure my nigga
- my bad - my mistake
- off the hook, off the chain - Unbelievable, outrageous, wild, etc.
- peace out - good bye
- rise up, foo - "bring it on"
- school ya - to teach a lesson, to win a confrontation
- sku me - excuse me
- whas goin' down? - what are we doin` tonight ?
- what tha dilly yo? - what is going on?
- what up? - hello, how are you?
- word up - got that straight, that's right or how's it going
For a list of additional terms, see the song "Ebonics" from Harlem rapper Big L (Lamont Coleman, 1974-1999).
