Entry · catalog no. 1201
Chiraq
/ /ʃaɪˈræk/ /shy-RACK
proper noun · Chicago — the South and West Sides · 2000s
✓ Verified
1.
Chicago, in a portmanteau with Iraq, pronounced shy-RACK on the deliberate mispronunciation of the country as eye-rack. It was coined on the South Side in early 2009 by the rapper King Louie, comparing the city's homicide count to a war zone, and it was carried out of the neighborhood by the drill generation — Chief Keef, Lil Durk, Lil Reese, Young Chop — before the national press took it up.
“He put Chiraq on the tape in 2011 and by 2014 it was on the news every night.”
2.
In wider use, a name for the parts of the city the word actually refers to: the South and West Sides, and the specific blocks the people using it live on. In the mouths of people from there it is claimed; in the mouths of everyone else it is contested, and the argument over which is which has been running since 2014.
“He can call it Chiraq. He lives there. You cannot.”
Origin & Attribution
South Side Chicago, early 2009. Chicago magazine's timeline credits the coinage to King Louie, and the term traveled first through drill mixtapes — his own Chiraq Drillinois, released in April 2011, carries it as a track title — then through the press as the homicide numbers rose. An organized objection to the name developed in 2014, including a T-shirt campaign that crossed out Chiraq in favor of Chitown, and city officials pushed back publicly when Spike Lee announced a film with the title in 2015.
2009
King Louie coins the term on the South Side, per Chicago magazine's timeline
2011
His mixtape Chiraq Drillinois is released in April, carrying the word as a track title as drill spreads
2015
Spike Lee confirms a film titled Chiraq set in Englewood, and local bloggers and the mayor object to the name
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Midwest
Chicago — the South and West Sides · 2000s
Spoken by
Black Chicagoans, chiefly young and chiefly from the South and West Sides; then rap audiences nationally
$CHIRAQThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady17 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
64/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2009
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@chitown
Chicago, IL
@detlex
Detroit, MI
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
The Evolution of Chiraq, Chicago magazine, June 2015 — timeline dating the coinage to early 2009
magazine · printed
■
King Louie, Chiraq Drillinois, mixtape, April 2011
mixtape · released
■
Nicki Minaj featuring Lil Herb, Chi-Raq, 7 April 2014
song · recorded
■
+ Cite a sourceThe Problem With Chiraq, Chicago magazine, April 2015
magazine · printed
See also