Hiphop LX
Navigation
Ill
DEFINITION:
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.
PART(S) OF SPEECH:
adjective
EXAMPLE(S):
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm Ill
--Nas, "It Aint Hard to Tell"
- PRIMARY ORIGIN:
- United States
