Question 1

What does “turn up” mean?

Accepted Answer

To hype oneself and the people around you into a state of high energy, wildness, and celebration — through loud music, dancing, drinking, or getting high — at a party, club, or gathering; also used as a command or invitation ('let's turn up') and, once adjectivized as 'turnt' or 'turnt up,' to describe someone already in that hyped, wild, or intoxicated state. It carries the same call-and-response, self-hyping energy as 'get crunk' before it, and functions as both an action (what you do) and a description of a peak emotional register (how you are).

Question 2

Where does “turn up” come from?

Accepted Answer

Grows directly out of the Black Southern 'crunk' vocabulary of Atlanta and Memphis nightclub and hip-hop culture. Long before 'turnt' hit Urban Dictionary or Twitter, Southern Black party culture used 'crunk' to mean hyped, wild, or excited — a usage traced to 1980s Atlanta nightclubs and popularized nationally by Three 6 Mafia, Lil Jon, and other Dirty South acts in the 1990s and early 2000s. 'Turn up/turnt' emerged as the 2010s generational heir to 'crunk,' built on the older Black English phrasal verb 'turn up' (as in turn up the volume/heat), with the AAVE final-consonant devoicing pattern