Entry · catalog no. 3611
the A
/ /ðə ˈeɪ/ /thuh AY
noun · Atlanta, Georgia · 2000s
✓ Verified
1.
Atlanta, Georgia, as named by its own — especially Black Atlantans and Atlanta rap.
“He moved to Houston but he still claims the A.”
2.
The Atlanta scene as a center of gravity: the rap industry, the clubs, the Black professional class.
“Every producer she wants to work with is in the A.”
Origin & Attribution
Black Atlanta and Atlanta hip-hop, standing alongside the older A-Town and ATL. It is not a tourism-board invention — the civic and media uses follow the vernacular rather than make it. The archive dates conservatively: the earliest independently verified uses are from 2007 and 2008, and oral use certainly runs earlier than that, but no earlier documentation has been confirmed. Two attributions that circulate should not be repeated. There is no verifiable T.I. record called "In Da A," and "Welcome to Atlanta," which is often offered as the first use, does not contain the phrase at all.
2004
Lil Jon's "peace up, A-Town down" on Usher's "Yeah!" carries an Atlanta one-word self-name to a national number one
2007
Straight From the A launches on 19 August, a Black Atlanta blog built on the name
2008
Lil Scrappy releases "The A" on Prince of the South on 13 May
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Atlanta, Georgia · 2000s
Spoken by
Black Atlantans, Atlanta rappers and producers, and the diaspora of people who moved there
$THEAThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady19 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
84/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2007
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
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Straight From the A, straightfromthea.com, launched 19 August 2007
website
■
Lil Scrappy, "The A," Prince of the South, 13 May 2008
record
■
Lloyd featuring Ludacris, "How We Do It ('In The A')," 2008
record
■
+ Cite a sourceCreative Loafing (Atlanta), 23 November 2011
newspaper
See also