Hiphop Language Database >> Sorted Alphabetically >> I

Unbelievably cool. Its current meaning is a semantic inversion of the adjective ill, which refers to physical sickness. This same inversion can be observed with the work "sick", which has a similar meaning to ill. In the early days of Hiphop, ill did in fact have a negative connotation (see, e.g., Run-DMC's "You Be Illin'"), but since then has transformed to become a positive.

Another name for Philadelphia, PA. Sometimes shortened to Illadel