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Recapped: A glossary of gang slang

By Ron Sylvester

The Crips trial going on the past couple of weeks has revealed a life within our city where violence visits regularly. Not only are details of testimony about the gang lifestyle foreign to many, so is its language. You don’t need the Urban Dictionary to keep track. I’ve compiled a list, according to witness testimony the past few weeks.

• OG: original gangster.
• Jumped in: being beaten up as an initiation to joining a gang. You can also leave a gang by being “jumped out.”
• Blessed in: being taken into the gang on the word of a current member.
• Do work: committing crimes, including robberies and drive-by shootings.
• Rock it up: make powder cocaine into crack cocaine using baking soda and boiling water.
• Half a bird: 10 ounces of crack.
• Snow white: cocaine.
• Greens: marijuana; (syn.) trees.
• CK and/or BK: Initials for “Crip killer” or “Blood killer” used by members of those rival gangs.
• Shot caller: A gang member, usually an OG who gives orders to younger members.
• Spot: a house or apartment run by a gang member for selling drugs and stashing guns and money.

This has caused questioning such as the following exchange between lawyer Carl Maughan and witness Prentice Byrd this week:

Q. You testified about “OG” meaning original gangster. There is also some other terms, right? “BG,” what does that mean?

A. Baby gangster.

Q. That’s baby gangster. “YG?”

A. Young gangster.

(transcribed by Jana Hoelscher, court reporter)

Full post as published by What the Judge Ate for Breakfast on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).