What Does Glizzy Mean In Rap? (Revealed!)

“Glizzy” is a slang word for “glock” in rap. It has been used for a long time by rappers and arose out of the -izzle form of cant used by rappers from the 1980s and popularized by Snoop Dogg. Its precise origins are unknown though it goes back to at least 1999.

The subject matter of rap is very often violence and gun violence.

For many rappers, especially old-school rappers of the 80s and 90s, this was a symptom of the lives they had lived and the kinds of strife they experienced in deprived communities growing up.

The slang “glizzy” is a natural byproduct of a world like that.

Let’s find out more.

What is “glizzy” slang for in rap?

Glizzy in rap refers to a Glock handgun.

Rap, both old and modern, is very often steeped in discussions and depictions of violence and gun violence.

This is true of many kinds of rap, but absolutely true of the earliest American “gangster” rap of the late 80s and early 90s.

To say the least, it is a very sensitive topic, but for better or worse guns are very often the topic of rap songs.

For some rappers, talking about gun violence was natural for them because it is what they saw when they looked out their windows or walked around their communities.

Glocks are one of the most popular handguns in America and one of the most commonly available, which is why they were so often rapped about.

At the same time, to an extent, a Glock was considered a good weapon to have, and so rapping about your own “glizzy” became a sort of boast.

For some, the word was a broader term that simply meant any handgun rather than just specifically a Glock.

This broader meaning most likely expanded out of the original meaning, and indeed for some the word “Glock” itself can refer simply to any kind of handgun rather than specifically a Glock.

Complex social matters aside, the rap scene in America in the 80s and 90s was steeped in discussions of violence and at the same time many simply used the image as a way of selling themselves.

Slang words like “glizzy”, which you wouldn’t understand if you weren’t familiar with the scene, were in part about setting aside their own identity and cant which they could use to discuss matters that were important to them.

Where does this term come from, then?

Where does glizzy come from in rap?

The precise origin of the term “glizzy” is not known, but as mentioned it is part of the izzle cant which was widely used by rappers in the 80s and 90s.

The first use of “glizzy” that is recorded comes from 1999, in the song “It’s So Hard” by the rapper Big Pun.

Doubtless, the term predates this by some time, then, since it was plainly established as a known term by ‘99.

It is part of this “izzle speak” which had been in use since at least the early 1980s, where using Zs was a very common way to keep up rhythm and rhyme.

As far as the construction of the word itself, then, you simply take the first “Gl-” sound of glock and change the rest of the word to “izzy”.

To better understand the origin of terms like this, a broader understanding of izzle speak would be a big help.

What is “izzle” in rap?

 Izzle is what’s called a cant, a cant being an argot or slang used by a particular demographic.

It goes beyond simply adding slang phrases to the normal, everyday, standard form of the language. It is fundamentally changed in lots of ways that makes it esoteric, and in large part unintelligible to those who are not familiar with the vocabulary.

Izzle speak was, as mentioned, made popular and widely known by the rapper Snoop Dogg.

However, it was first put to record way back in 1981, in Frankie Smith’s song “Double Dutch Bus”.

Since then it has been used and expanded on by all sorts of rappers, although in many ways it is still emblematic of rappers of the 1990s.

It was first developed during the Harlem Renaissance, and was supposedly originally used by so called jive hustlers and pimps of the 1970s.

”Glizzy” arose out of this in later rap culture as, above all else, simply a more rhythmic way of saying Glock.

What else does glizzy mean?

It’s important to note one other meaning that glizzy can have outside of rap to avoid any confusion.

Glizzy, more broadly, refers to a hot dog, and is used widely throughout America in this way.

It generally is not going to mean this when used in rap since most rappers are more likely to be aware of the other meaning and so wouldn’t refer to a hotdog in this way to avoid confusion.

Interestingly, though, it’s believed that this meaning arose out of the earlier meaning of gun or Glock.

It’s said this was in reference to the length of the barrel being similar to the length of a hotdog sausage.

 In rap, then, a glizzy is almost always going to refer to a Glock handgun.

The term also means a hotdog, but this is generally not the rap meaning of the phrase and is a wider slang term for hotdog.

Glizzy arises out of the izzle cant which, to an extent, gave certain communities a kind of patois of their own, or even expanded on one that they already had.

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