Entry · catalog no. 7665
Issa
/ /ˈɪsə/ /IH-suh
phrase · U.S. South (Atlanta) · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
A run-together pronunciation of "it's a," used to introduce a noun the way "it's a" would in standard English — as in "issa knife," "issa vibe," or "issa mood." In practice it also works as a stand-alone confirmation, letting a speaker name or label something plainly and without apology.
“She looked at the tattoo and just said, "issa scar, not a mistake."”
Origin & Attribution
The contraction of "it's a" into one syllable is a long-standing feature of Southern Black speech, collapsing the copula the way AAVE speakers have done for generations. It became a nationally recognized word specifically through Atlanta rapper 21 Savage, who used it in a late-2016 interview with DJ Vlad to describe his forehead tattoo, saying simply "issa knife."
2016
21 Savage tells DJ Vlad his tattoo is 'issa knife,' and the clip spreads as a meme
2017
21 Savage releases his debut album titled Issa Album and publicly claims to have coined the word
2017
Outlets note the phrase's rise in hip-hop coincides with, but did not originate with, 21 Savage's fame
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
U.S. South (Atlanta) · 2010s
Spoken by
Black Southern speakers, hip-hop artists and fans, and now broad internet meme culture
$ISSAThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Peaked10 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
2016
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
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
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
"21 Savage: Issa knife."
interview clip / Urban Dictionary entry, 2016
■
"the southern variant of the slang contraction 'it's a' has existed for generations"
HotNewHipHop article, 2017
■
+ Cite a source"We don't say 'It's a' we say 'issa.' Now everybody uses it."
Vibe video interview, 2017
See also