Entry · catalog no. 0881
props
/ — /pending
noun · Nationwide · 2026
✓ Verified
1.
Proper respect, publicly given. You do not take props; they are handed to you by people who saw the work.
“Give the man his props, he built that whole scene from nothing.”
Origin & Attribution
Clipped from "proper respect" in Black speech and standard across hip-hop by the early 1990s. Respect that has to be acknowledged out loud is an old theme in Black American life — props is the shorthand.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
Nationwide · 2026
Spoken by
Nationwide
$PROPSThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Rising0 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
12/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2026
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
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
"Props Over Here," The Beatnuts — single · 1993
submitted
■
"Give Him The Ol' Left Right," Kurious — single · 1994
submitted
■
+ Cite a sourceClarence Major, Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang — reference · 1994
submitted
See also