A lot of folks use slang terms without knowing their true origins. Many of the popular ones come from the slang heavy Bay Area. For example, take a term like Playa Hater.. It’s commonly used but its roots are found in Richmond, California with a rapper named Filthy Phil.
Back in the days (80s) there was a group of police called the Cowboys. They were a rough bunch who were actually profiled on the news show 60 Minutes. Phil ran with a crew who called themselves the Playboys.. “players” for short.
The cowboys used to mess with Phil’s crew and hence got dubbed ‘Player Haters‘. That was the original meaning.
The term Ghostriding has been immortalized in songs and has come to mean cats walking alongside their car or riding the roof with no one in the drivers seat. The practice was popularized in the Oakland ‘side shows‘ which is our term for cruising. The initial term came about when the police would come up to hot spots like Berkeley’s Telegraph avenue and break up the large crowds. They would get out their patrol cars to usher people along … Some got the idea of putting the un-manned cruisers in motion to crash them , either by shifting gears or putting brick or rocks on the gas pedal.. The un manned patrols cars crashing were said have been ghostridden
The term Fa-Sheezy and its numerous variations which many attribute to Snoop Dogg, was popularized by Bay Area slangologist E-40. 40 got the term from his homies 3x Krazy which included Keak tha Sneak another noted slang master. many say the initial phrasing came from pig latin, but if you listen to an old Grandmaster Flash cut from the early 80s.. pioneer Mele-Mel flips some pig latin and there’s no Fa Sheezy being said.. We maintain our originality.
We could go on and on, and I’m sure some will argue about the local folklore. We know we know, nothing’s new under the sun.. But when it comes to the Bay Area some of it is-LOL
Below is a video/ song from Rafael Casal that chronicles some our uniqueness on the wordplay tip.. Enjoy..And if you object, get ur skillz together and do your own.. Just make sure you note we did this here thing first.. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq0ZDnshYkU&feature=player_embedded#at=90
“…yet people talk smack about 40 Bellafonte. The music industry is using his slang, and trying to play it off like they doing they thing”. – Afroman
didnt i already write this article, back in, like 2004?
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/the-politics-of-hyphy/Content?oid=1074559
I hear people in LA talking about how “jerkin” is proof that L.A. is on the cutting edge, has created yet a new style that everyone else is starting to jack. When I tell them it started in the bay, and it was called “hyphy”, they stick their fingers in their ears and say “whatever”. That’s LA. You can follow Oakland rap back to it’s earliest days, and you’ll hear that p funk sound that’s been a staple of what we know as west coast rap. Listen to Too Short Playboy Short (first version). That’s like 1985. Before Eazy Duz It, LA hip hop was all about Egyptian Lover, break dancing beats. Truth is LA’s been jacking the bay from day one, and they don’t care. And the industry is going to give them all of the credit because it’s LA and it’s the showbiz capitol of the world.
This is a real cutting edge post.
We need more E40’s in the world to be walking talking ghetto lab mice that blatantly demonstrate to young suburban children that even the stupidest of nonsense can be successful in america. Hopefully this will alleviate much of the worry embraced by parents and children around authentic social and academic contributions to the world.
Great post.
fo’sheezy!!!!!!
Fat real shit yo says:
March 6, 2011 at 5:18 pm
even the stupidest of nonsense can be successful in america.
…………….
Wow. That’s patriotic…
“Truth is LA’s been jacking the bay from day one, and they don’t care.”
that’s real talk. snoop dogg’s first group 213 was inspired by richie rich’s group 415, and snoop bit biiiiiiiiiitch from $hort. Snoop himself has acknowledged this.
back in the day, LA was on some electro-funk/freestyle shit with Egyptian Lover and World Class Wreckin Cru. that made a little noise, but they werent really making rap music until 85-86 or so when Ice-T came out. the bay was doing hip-hop/rap as early as 1981-82.
E-40 isnt just a rapper, he’s a linguist. and a cunning one at that.
fa shizzle!
“I got a black belt in hustling” E-40, on facebook the other day. LOL
Interesting tidbits in hip-hop history, especially from the Bay…
I’m HELLA hungry. I’m FINNA bounce to Jack in the Crack.
It’s interesting that so many conservative Americans despise slang like E-40’s. I wonder if they realize that by doing so, they are in fact defending Great Britain’s English. The United States might have won the American revolution on the ground, but Britain clearly won on some ideological fronts. I mean, here we are, hundreds of years later, and so many Americans with British blood are lecturing black Americans and others on properly speaking the Queen’s English. You’d think that conservative, patriotic Americans would champion 40 water just to show up the very Brits who didn’t believe their bastard offspring (America’s founding fathers), were intelligent enough to run a country without Britain’s rule and standards. Any affront to standard English should be a good thing in their minds. But instead, racism trumps all.