Entry · catalog no. 4316
grip
/ /ɡrɪp/ /GRIP
noun · San Francisco Bay Area · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
A large amount, most often of money — "a grip of cash," "a grip of people." Bay Area vernacular for plenty, more than you would bother to count.
“That car ran him a grip, but he wasn't about to say how much.”
Origin & Attribution
The San Francisco Bay Area, in Black vernacular documented from the late 1980s — Digital Underground's "Packet Man" (1989) is an early reference. Carried through the Bay's deep slang tradition and its rappers, E-40 chief among them.
1989
Referenced in Digital Underground's "Packet Man"
1990s
Staple of Bay Area rap slang
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The West
San Francisco Bay Area · 1990s
Spoken by
Bay Area Black speakers
$GRIPThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady37 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1989
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
@bayarea
Oakland, CA
@ladi
Los Angeles, CA
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Digital Underground, "Packet Man"
1989
■
+ Cite a sourceEast Bay Express, Bay Area slang guide
2010s
See also