The Rap Dictionary: S

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S1W: (n) The Security of the First World; the military dancers on stage with Public Enemy at their concerts.
SA: (n) Wrong spelling of the Mexican word ese, which means dude. "SA's cool, don't fuck with them boys" - Ice Cube (Really Doe).
sack chaser: (n) Woman using a man for money.
Sactown: (n) Sacramento, California.
sagging deuce: (n) A lowered Cadillac car.
scarface: (n) A scarface is someone who is a gangster or models themselves on the character of Tony Montana in the film "Scarface"(1983). Scarface is one of the most influential films with regard to hip-hop. Many of the samples used on rap albums are from Scarface. Many phrases you hear used by rappers are copied verbatim from Scarface. Examples include The Geto Boys album (Geto Boys) the hook for "Fuck Em' All" is sampled from Scarface. The sample at the beginning of the Kool G Rap song "Fast Life" is from Scarface. The rapper Scarface took his name from the film.
scheme: (v) To plan to do something to get someones money, most often by cheating. "And the girls that been scheming, gonna get creamed when I" -- The Gravediggaz (Tonite is a special nite [1995]).
school: (n) A specific era in hiphop history. There have been many discussions about the difference between the "Old School" and the New School". One accepted view was put to words in alt.rap by Charles L. Isbell:
All of time can be divided pretty easily this way:
- Everything before "Run DMC" (Run DMC [1984])
- Everything before "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back" (Public Enemy [1988])
It gets harder after that, but maybe you'd have to label parallel movements with stuff like:
+ Everything before "Straight Outta Compton" (NWA [1988]) and "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" (Ice Cube [1990]) for the West Coast Gangsta Movement
+ Everything before "3 Feet High And Rising" (De La Soul [1989]) and "Low End Theory" (A Tribe Called Quest [1991]) for the Jazz/Bohemian Movement
Others seem to think we're about to enter the Everything before "93 'Til Infinity" (Souls of Mischief [1993]) era for the Ascendency of Hieroglyphics, but I'll reserve judgement on that.
There are also several dark moments: MC Hammer ushered in the HipPop Era and Vanilla "No I really used to be rich; May I take your order?" Ice ushered in something unspeakable (Snow, if nothing else).
Hmmmmm, here's a way to pass the time: what are the key moments/movements and what albums/artists best represent them? How have they influenced the direction of rap? Making no value judgements, I'd have to say that the four most influential hiphop moments/movements are the ones I listed above and for obvious reasons.
Scooby Doo: 1) (n) The cartoon character.
2) (n) A blunt. "Scooby Doo, where the fuck are you?" -- Cypress Hill (??? [??]).
3) (n) The B-side on Lick a Shot (US).
scope: 1) (v) Look at something. "Scope that bitch"
2) (v) Stare down someone.
scrap a lick: (v) As in "can't scrap a lick", meaning, can't put up a fight, has a poor fighting ability. From Dr. Dre (Fuck wit Dre day).
scratch: (n) Money, loot. "Scrilla scratch paper" -- E-40 (One love [??]).
screw: (v) To play a hip-hop record at a slower speed, said to accentuate the bass and facilitate mixes with ballads. Also screw mixes, get my screw on. Originated in the late 80's, when Fresh Records released 12" singles at 45 rpm. Many DJ's missed the speed designation and mistakenly played it at the slower 33 rpm speed. Many listeners began to intentionally request those records (esp. Mantronix's "Fresh is the Word") at the slow speed. Now done with CD players with variable pitch (or vinyl).
scrilla: (n) Money, loot. "Scrilla scratch paper" -- E-40 (One love [??]).
Seatown: (n) Seattle.
sell out: (n) Doing something purely for the financial gain, Selling your soul. "Should Ice Cube sell out? You say hell no!" -- Ice Cube (When will they shoot? [??]).
sense: (n) An abbreviation of the word "sinsemellia", which is a form o marijuana that has no seeds, because it is isolated from male pollen during te blooming process. Instead of making seeds, the marijuana plant makes more THC, hence this "sense" is more potent, and generally better than standard ganja.
serve: 1) (v) To defeat an opponent with skill.
2) (v) To deliver a subpoena
set: 1) (n) A denomination of one of the larger gangs, a set is not necessarily friendly with other sets in the same gang. "Baby girl asked me what set am I claiming" - Sir MixaLot (Rapper's Reputation)
2) (n) The group of songs in a concert by a specific performer.
set tripping: (v) Killing someone in your own gang, but who is in a different set. i.e. a different street but in the same gang.
shackles: (n) Handcuffs.
shank: (n) A custom made knife as used in prisons, made from whatever materials are available. "You better grab your shank, cuz ain't no fistfight" -- Dr. Dre (Lil' ghetto boy [??]).
Shaton: (n) Shaton or Shaitan is an Arabic word meaning "devil". "At night the evil armies of Shaton don't play" -- Fugees (Family business [1996]).
Shea Town: (n) New York, from Shea stadium.
sherm stick: (n) Marijuana dipped in embalming fluid.
shife: (adj) See mark or newjack. A rookie or one who purports to be more than he is. "And he knew he was shife, he knew he was hype" -- Bust Down (Nasty bitch (intro) [1993]).
shimmy: (n) See booty. "Shimmy shimmy ya!" - Ol' Dirty Bastard (Shimmy shimmy ya [1995]).
sholda than show: (interj) Surer than sure.
shook one: (n) Individual who acts like he is tough, but when things get hectic or tense, he gets scared and acts like the punk he really is. They have been shook up by the reality and are labeled shook ones. "Shook ones" -- Mobb Deep (Shook ones pt. II [1995]).
short: (n) Vehicle.
shorty: 1) (n) Little person.
2) (n) Female, like baby or honey. "I got myself a shorty, I got myself a forty" -- Wu-Tang Clan (Method Man).
3) (n) A seven ounce bottle of beer.
shotty: (n) Shotgun.
show and prove: (v) Demonstrate.
show case: (v) To carry out a fraud.
siamese: (n) A person who acts two-faced.
sike: (n) See psych.
simp: 1) (n) Derived from simpleton, used for rhyming with pimp. "Short baby I ain't no simp, but the nigga in the suit ain't nothin' but a pimp" -- Too $hort (Cocktales [??]).
2) (v) To sing and pimp. From Boyz II Men (Simpin' ain't easy).
sister: (n) Woman of the same group; friend.
skank: (n) A scandalous woman.
skeezer: (n) See freak. "If you wanna know what a skeezer is, it's a girl who's on my jock cause I'm in showbiz" -- LL Cool J. (??? [??]).
skill: (n) General ability; ability on the microphone.
skins: 1) (n) The lips of the vagina. "She likes to bend over and then she spreads the skins" -- Brand Nubian (Slow down [1990]).
2) (n) Condom.
3) (n) Rolling papers.
skirt: (n) A female.
skitzing: (v) Acting bizarre or crazy, from schizophrenic.
skully: (v) Getting oral sex performed. "My buddy, daz dilly, we gettin' skully" - Kurupt (My Buddy [1998]).
skunk: (n) A medium grade and smelly form of marijuana.
slab: 1) (n) The ground; to lower a car to the slab: to lower down. "I'm breaking em down to the slab" -- Rage (The chronic [1992]).
2) (n) Crack.
slamming: 1) (adj) Dynamic.
2) (adj) Something really good/attractive. "And may I say, may I say, that, that outfit you got on is slammin'" -- L.L. Cool J (MrGoodbar).
slang: (v) The act of selling drugs.
slanted-back: (n) A Caddillac Seville, because of the slanted trunk of the earlier models.
slap skins: 1) (v) Slapping hands together.
2) (v) Having sex. Slapping skins, hitting skins, getting skins, etc. Skins being the skin of the opposite sex.
Slauson: (n) Los Angeles street. "The sun went down when I hit Slauson" -- Dr. Dre (Let Me Ride [??]).
sleep [on]: (v) Ignore. (v) To be unaware or unprepared. You can creep up on someone while they are "sleeping" (even if they are awake).
slipping: 1) (adj) On the downward trend, losing the edge. "Cause you're slipping!" -- Boogie Down Productions (You're slipping [1988]).
2) (v) Not paying attention "Yeah I caught that fool slippin' and I smoked him" -- ?? (??? [??]).
slob: (n) Derogatory name for a member of the Bloods, an L.A. gang, used by members of the Crips, another L.A. gang.
slow your roll: (interj) Slow down whatever you are doing. "Slow ya roll like your leg was broken" -- Kurupt (For my niggaz and my bitches [1993]).
smacked: (adj) Under the influence of drugs.
smashing: (v) See slapping skins.
smoke: (v) Killing someone. "Right then, I knew I had to smoke his ass" -- N.W.A. (Gangsta gangsta [1988]).
snap: (n) a form of verbal jestering. Also French and English speaking Africans especially in Dakar and Paris say 'oh snap' in two contexts. 1) 'oh snap' if you get bagged on (snapped on) and 2) meaning 'oh shit' as in 'I didn't know' or 'I forgot something'.
snaps: (n) Money.
sneakers: (n) Sportswear shoes. "I wear my sneakers but I'm not a sneak" -- RUN-DMC (My Adidas).
snow: (n) Cocaine.
soggy indo: (n) A joint (see marijuana) that has been dipped in PCP or something.
soldier: (n) Non-OG gangbanger.
South Central: (n) Los Angeles area. A very important place for gangsta rap. Origin of a lot of rappers.
SP-12: (n) The E-MU SP-12 (or SP-1200), a high-end sampling drum machine for rap music production. These pieces of equipment came out around 1985 and 87 respectively. The SP-12 did not have an internal disk drive, but EMU saw the problems since it only worked with a Commodore diskdrive. So they made the next model with an internal drive. Incidentally Ced-Gee of Ultra-Magnetics was the first person in hip-hop to use this machine which has become one of the most sought after pieces of equipment to date. So much that EMU has reissued the SP-1200. "Just me, a mic, and an SP-12" -- Young MC (Album Filler).
spliff: (n) Jamaican marijuana cigarette, see marijuana.
spray: (v) Firing a round of bullets. "Pulled out the uzi, cruised by and sprayed him" -- Ice Cube (Gangsta's Fairytale).
sprung: 1) (adj) Erected. "Sprung, niggaz call her lips 'n lungs" -- Ice Cube (Check yo self [??]).
2) (adj) Obsessed with something.
3) (n) Released on bail by someone else.
squab: (n) Shortened form of "to squabble"; to fight, physicallly confront. "Quick to squab, always down for the job" -- E-40 featuring Suga T (Sprinkle me [??]).
squash: (v) To end, Squash that beef.
squeeze the trigger: (v) To shoot a gun. "Yo homeboy,squeeze the trigger!" -- Ice T. (squeeze the trigger) [198?]
St. Ides: (n) A specific brand of maly liquor. Ice Cube and Scarface have done radio commercials for St. Ides. "Gotta get tha S-T-I-D-E-S, first of tha month" -- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (??? [??]).
stab out: (v) To leave.
stake: (v) Making money, often used in conjunction with paper, i.e. "stakin' paper".
steel: (n) Pistol. "Finger on the trigger with my hand upon the steel" --Cypress Hill (Hand on the pump [1993])
step off: (v) Back away from a confrontation.
step to: (v) Engage a confrontation. "So don't step to me 'cause you boys 'll get wacked" -- Ice-T (Power).
step up: (v) See step to.
stilo: (n) Pronounced as "steelo", is a term that like a lot of other hip-hop terms originated in New York City. It is Spanish, and it means style.
straight: 1) (n) Okay.
2) (n) Short for stright up, truly, used for emphasis. "Straight booty" or "straight wack".
strap: (n) A gun.
strapped: (adj) Strapped in: armed.
strawberry: (n) Someone who willingly exchanges sexual services for drugs. "Strawberry, Strawberry is the neighbourhood ho" -- N.W.A. (Dopeman [1988]).
stroll: 1) (v) To be out on parole. "27 years old, out on parole, stroll." -- Dr. Dre (Lil' ghetto boy [??]).
2) (n) To drive one's car.
Strong island: (n) Long island.
stunt: 1) (n) Sexual act.
2) (n) A person who performs stunts.
3) (n) To pull a stunt, to try something difficult.
stupid: 1) (adj) Creative.
2) (adv) Very. "Evil's got the funky beat, a stupid dope loop" -- Ice-T (Fried chicken [1991]).
sucka: (n) person easily duped.
Sucka Free: (n) San Francisco.
SWASS: (n) Short for "Some wild-ass silly shit".
SWAT: (n) Southwest Atlanta. Home of Outkast, Goodie Mob, Kriss Kross, Parental Advisory.
Swayze: (n) I'm out of here, I'm ghost. From the movie "Ghost" which features the actor Patrick Swayze, used for example in a cut by EPMD..
sweat: 1) (n) over-patronize.
2) (v) Worry, as in "don't sweat it".
3) (v) Harrass or scrutinize. "There's one or two narcs in the area that's sweatin' me" -- Digital Underground (Sex packets).
sweet: (adj) Cool, dope, fresh.
swerver: (n) Car.
swing: (n) To have sexual intercourse (Grand Puba).
swing low: (n) To have oral sex (Kool Moe Dee).
switch: (n) Your average toggle switch. Low-riding drivers use them to control the hydrolics or any other electrical device in their cars. "Rollin' in my fo' with sixteen switches" Dr. Dre -- (Let Me Ride).

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