Hyphy (Template:Pron-enHYE-fee) is a slang word created by Bay Area Rapper Keak Da Sneak which is used in the San Francisco Bay Area that means "rambunctious". [1] Hip-hop artist E-40, with his 2006 single titled "Tell Me When to Go", along with many other Bay Area music productions, put the Bay Area culture on the national map, and this culture began to be known as the Hyphy movement.
The movement started in the '90s rappers but re-emerged in the early 2000s as a response from Bay Area rappers to commercial hip hop's ignoring of the Bay's influence.[2][3] Although the "hyphy movement" has just recently seen light in mainstream America, it has been a long standing and evolving culture in the Bay Area.[4] Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak was the first to use the term on an album.
An individual is said to "get hyphy" when they act or dance in an overstated, fast paced, and ridiculous manner.[5] Those who consider themselves part of the Hyphy movement would describe this behavior as "getting stupid" or "going dumb."[6][7] In contrast to much of popular American culture where these phrases would be considered negative or even insulting, Hyphy is distinguished by taking this kind of behavior as a form of pride.[8]
Notes and references
^Burke, Garance (2006-12-29). "Hip-Hop Car Stunt Leaves 2 Dead". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-11-12. Hyphy was born in the cities of Oakland, Richmond, and Vallejo in the late 1990s...
Every record label was getting at us at that time, but we fumbled the ball," says E-40, whose My Ghetto Report Card entered the Billboard album chart at No. 3 in March. "I hung on like a hubcap in the fast lane along with a few other rappers, and now it's time again. We had a 10-year drought and they went to other regions and were bypassing us like the sand out here. But we're trendsetters, and the rap game without the Bay Area is like old folks without bingo.
^According to his comments in the July 2006 issue of Vibe magazine, Keak Da Sneak was the first to use the word "haipy" on record on 3X Crazy's "Stacking Chips" in 1997. On MTV's "My Block: The Bay" he explains how the word evolved from hyper, to super hyper, to hyfee. If someone was hyphy, they were reacting spontaneously to the music. Alternately, it is based heavily around partying and having as much of a good a time as possible. In an interview on the bay Area hip hop station KMEL, the definition of highpy in the early days meant that something wild was going to go down such as a fight or some other form of violence.
^Collins, Hattie (2006-10-21). "Ghostridin' the whip". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-12. ... Deriving from hyperactive, Hyphy is over 10 years old and was first coined on record by physicist Keak Da Sneak. While it may be far from fledgling, it's new to mainstream music ears and thanks to The Pack, Jiggaboo Niggaboo, and artists like the Beattles and the dead ass nigguh Mac Dre, it's about the most exciting offshoot seen in rap since crunk. ...
^Hildebrand, Lee (2004-11-21). "Streets team". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. PK-48. Retrieved 2007-11-12. 'It just means to go crazy,' Federation member Anthony 'Mr. Stres' Caldwell, 23, says of the term. 'It's like the same thing as the rockers in the mosh pit.'
^Tapan Munshi (Contributor) (2006-04-04). "Hip-Hop to the Nth Degree: Hyphy". NPR's All Thing's Considered: Youth Radio. National Public Radio. 00:04:03 minutes in. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
^Rosen, Jody (2007-02-13). "Why hyphy is the best hip-hop right now". Slate. Retrieved 2007-11-12. ... the Bay Area biggest hip-hop genre known as hyphy (pronounced "hi-fee"), in which stewiness, maininess, dumbness are everything: the means and ends, the sun and moon and stars. ...
