Hiphop Slang

The influence of Hip-Hop slang on American English

American English is evolving at a great pace with new words being added to its word-stock by various influences such as social, cultural, technological influences etc. Over the past 30 years American dictionaries have grown at unprecedented levels. Words attesting to rich contribution of global cultures to American culture, words created for scientific use, words recognizing technological advances, and, of course words representing contemporary culture have expanded American English. Yet, it is this last category that has altered American English, therefore English more rapidly than any other influence.

A significant socio-cultural phenomenon that has taken American English by storm is “Hip-Hop” slang. Expressions and words coined by urban youth have made way into mainstream English via hip-hop generation. Most of the hip-hop words that are added to mainstream American English initially emerge with a regional identity and then words unite to form one corpus called “hip-hop slang” which comes out bearing an American identity. In spite of the fact that hip-hop is seen in various social contexts, mainstream hip-hop culture, however, is the one with its roots in African American ghettos.

During the 1960s and 1970s, as the streets of New York City erupted in violence, social decay, and economic demise- young, multiethnic, inner city youth devised their own solution to the traumatic challenges that they continually faced. Unifying the preexisting elements of rapping, deejaying, graffiti and dancing these diverse youths created an alternative to the hopelessness found in their neighbourhood.

During the mid-1970s, this local phenomenon was ignored by mainstream America; yet by the 1980s, not only did hip-hop culture have a national presence, it was sought globally. Movies such as Wild style, Style wars, and later Beat Street and Breakin’ allowed international audiences to experience...