A Glossary of, Like, Contemporary Terms

Be-bop--designation for ‘50s music. Beddies--good-looking girls. Bikini whale--fat girl on the beach. Bite rhymes--to steal other rappers’ rhymes. Blood Killer--killer of the Bloods, the Crips’ mortal enemies. Burly--a rough, tough trick that takes guts to try. Bust a rhyme--to begin a rap, to throw down a rap. Claim a set--claim allegiance to a gang. Creepers--pointed-toed, thick-soled black shoes worn by punks. Cruise patrol--strolling, usually guys looking for girls. Curb slappie--jumping on and off the street curb on a skateboard. Dissed (to get)--to get put down, “disrespected.” Dogged (to get)--to get pummeled by a wave; drilled , worked hard. Dogged on (to get)--stronger than dissed, to get beat at rapping, to get beat up. Dream session--the perfect surfing experience. Drilled (to get)--to get pummeled by a wave. Dweeb--a small, harmless person. East Coast Crips--one of the loose confederation of Crips gangs. Fall (to go over the)--to lose balance and topple over the crest (or lip) of a wave. Fly a sign--to wave a gang sign in greeting. Fresh--good, cool. Full Hanks--nerds. Gang-bangers--name given by the police to gang members. Gnarly--a good trick. Got their stuff wired--got their act together, e.g., well dressed. Grem--short for gremmie; both affectionate and offensive term for a surfing novice. Hip-hop--rap song; umbrella word that covers rapping, deejaying, break dancing and graffiti art. Heel-toe express--walking. Holmes--a friend or person accepted as a friend; from homeboy ; also homes or homie. Illen--vague term meaning something really terrible or really cool. Kick turn--kicking down the tail of a skateboard so the nose slides vertically up a wall. Loced out on 8 Ball--from Spanish loco , to get crazy drunk on Old English & Ball 800 Malt Liquor. Loco--crazy, implying that when a gang-banger fights he has no limits; usually followed by his first-name initial, such as Loco C. Lop--a dork. Monkey boots--ankle boots that look like work boots. New ro--new romantic (music). Ninety degrees without transition--a wall that is perpendicular to the pavement with no banking. O.G.--Original Gangster, gang members’ highest rank; the real thing; e.g., A gold chain is the O.G. stuff. “Oi” boys--a Fascist wing of punk; from the English Cockney interjection. Ollie--the skater pops up in the air on a skateboard by bearing down on the tail of the board. Fakey ollie-- done skating backwards; manual ollie-- done from a standstill; 180 ollie --an aerial turnaround of 180 degrees. Raw--tough, stern. Ride--car. 7-4 East Coast Crip--Crips gang on East 74th Street. Short johns--wet suit with no arms and short legs. Skeezers--women of ill-repute; old gangland term for women who turn to prostitution to pay for drugs; term now picked up on records. Ski--a ‘50s be-boppers’ term popularized by jazzman Dizzy Gillespie, who added it to names, e.g., Smithski. Slangin’ ‘caine--dealing cocaine. Slashing, shredding, blasting--all of the things a surfer does to a wave as he goes from its bottom to its top. Snake (to)--to cut another surfer off a wave. Sprung--term replaces strung out, or addicted to crack cocaine Street style--skating on available sites. Throw down a rap--begin rapping. Top-to-bottom--a large hollow wave that looks like a pipe; the ideal ride. Vertical pro--professional skating on a man-made ramp with vertical sides. Wanna-be--young gang member still on the periphery; recently popularized to describe Madonna’s emulators. “What that c like, Cuz?”--Crips substitute c’s for b’s, avoiding the initial letter of the Bloods. 1