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6:26 pm | 23 September 2003 | more hip-hop vocab lessons

Hip-Hop-Help Desk 9.23.03
definin' yo shit etymological-style since '01

Reader Patrick asks:

1: when did "ill" switch from a perjorative to a, um, opposite of perjorative? one would think it's when hip hop experienced a major shift in values (for which i blame the advent of gangsta rap) in the late eighties. for example, run dmc describing jam master jay as "the big bad wolf in your neighborhood, not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good." but that was 1986, and as late as 1988 slick rick was still saying "next thing you know the ho starts to ill!" why is ill a good thing (as in, license to ill) and not a bad thing?

2: whence "scrilla," indeed?

3: what the fuck are "israeli jeans" (see non-phixion, "stargate")?

4: this is probably common knowledge, but i still don't know exactly what "chickenhead" refers to.

One at a time, son! First: The whole bad-as-good thing can be traced back really to James Dean, young non-beluga Brando, and (later) the Fonz: that "cool" meant "irreverent, irresponsible, rebellious"--in short, 'non-good.' Hence how a "badass" is really, really cool. Ill is either a logical extension of that (if it's not "well," it must be "ill"; if it's not "hale," it must be "sick"), or it feeds off the "mad" thing ("crazy"="mad"="insane"=good). I think both "ill" and "sick" are retarded, but i'm picky.

Next, scrilla. Scrilla is so problematic! I can't find anything about its origins; in fact, as it's not widely used (I've heard it only from West Coast homies; it confounds friends here), i would assume it's a recent/fleeting development. (As a side note, i'm extremely jealous of the Vanilla Scrilla Crew and wish i had thought of that name for my MC handle. Anyhow.) Did it come from "silver"? From "shilling"? From "dolla"? Who knows? Please, send me ideas. I'm lost.

Dude, i don't know about Israeli jeans, for real. Contextually, the lyrics seem to be implying some kind of guerrilla-ness. It's worth noting that rapper Gore-Tex is half Jewish, but beyond that? I think they were just looking for a crazy rhyme.

And the piece de resistance: Chickenhead. Dude. I just figured out the origin from the definition, BECAUSE I AM A GENIUS. First. A chickenhead is a 'ho; specifically, a crack 'ho. BUT--i would deduce that the term came from the head-bobbing motion of fellatio, and its similarity to a chicken picking up grain from the ground. Don't you think? Sorry for the mental image.

I've also been working on flossin' and i think it's a logical extension of "bling"--since "bling bling" was originally the onomatapoeic term for the glint of light from a diamond or a smile (think cartoon-style), and since "flossing" one's teeth (or "grill," heh) would thereby increase the sparkle, "to floss" would then be "to display one's expensive goods or charm." Woop! Shakin' that moneymaker (my ginormous brain sucka mcs), clm.


Since it's early yet i'm still shillin' fo my crib sale, yo. Check the sheezy to your reezy. Righteezy? Whatev.


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