VOCAB African American Vernacular Eng.

bad

challenging / sexually, playful, mischievous, naughty

banana

banana

bogus

fake, not real

cat

dude

jam

slave

tote

carry / tote bag

yam hep

hep cat

the guy who knows everything, someone important/in charge

dig

understand

jiffy

short period of time

okra

green veggie

zombi

a frightening creature that is a dead person

jive

to talk in a foolish manner, use words with a different meaning

sock (sock it to me)

to have sex(ual intercourse)

hulla-baloo

a lot of noise, commotion, fuss, etc.

honkie-tonk

a man who is playing the drum, banjo, singing sentimental love songs (reminds us of a crooner, ballad singer)

jelly roll

woman sexual genitals, vagina

top

head

frame

rest of the body (everything but the head)

peepers

eyes

grabbers

hands

trap

mouth

hooker

finger

ho

prostitute, sexual worker (not always in a literal sense - could be a sexual partner)

benders

kneess

map

face

choppers

frontal teeth

grinders

molar teeth

dogs

feet

to dog

to walk

sky piece

hat

to be on fleek

to be fashionable, trendy

threads, drapes, rags

clothes (3 words)

a short

a car

lush, juice, booze

drink (3 words)

sides

music

leg / have a leg

sex

digits

phone number

give a holla

give a phone call

bird, chick

girl (2 words)

bopper

girl who is very easy to have sex with, probably a girl interested in money, easy girl

pushover

someone with no backbone

crib

house, home

cabbage, cheese, dough, bread, the dead presidents, paper

money (6 words)

breadwinner

the one who brings the money homes

short bread

little money

long bread

a lot of money

benji(es) / franklin(s)

100 dollars (2 words)

stay

live / to be / to do (sth frequently)

call

reason

bling-bling

jewelry

bogus

fraudulent, not genuine

bro

a close friend

bug

irritate

to be burning

to be doing great

bussin’

delicious

to cap

to lie

no cap

no lie, for real

cat

man

chimer

alarm clock

cholly

dollar

cool

great, terrific (they initially said hot)

to conk your hair

chemical product used to straighten your hair (African-Am. used it to imitate the whites)

creaker

aged person

diss

disrespect

get one’s kick

have fun

get my sip/ drink/ grub/ sleep/ chill on

have fun

goober

peanut / silly

grippers, kicks

shoes (2 words)

groovy

great (outdated)

hawk

a very cold wind

hep/hip

to be aware of / listen to / to inform someone of something

hood

neighborhood

house of many slammers

jail

hustle

work, job

ig

ignore

to keep it 100

to be authentic and truthful

kitchen

hair at the nape of the neck that is short and kinky

knock me

buy me, give me

lit

amazing

lowkey

secretly, quietly

highkey

openly, visibly

ma, mama

sweetheart

mellow, frantic, solid

terrific, great, wonderful (3 words)

moss

hair

motherfucker

bro / intensifier

ofay, fay, cracker, patty, honkie

white people (5 words)

oreo

somebody black on the outside and white on the inside

to pass

to pretend to be white and mess up with white people because one has a light complexion

Jim Crow Law

black and white people could not go to the same places (law)

piece

gun

player

a sexually active man, a successful man with money (normally drug dealers) who would wear top label drapes, bling-bling and would attract many women

reefer

a marijuana cigarette, a joint

wrecked/reckt

humiliated, licked

saddity

pretentious, snobbish, uppity-acting black person

salty

angry

scrub

a person who does not have neither money nor success

schucks

the part of the corn plant that is not good for eating / lies, deception, bullshit (BS)

spade, coon, dingy, boy, n-word, spook

derogative ways of referring to a black person (6 words)

spiel

to talk in a rambling, never-ending way