1. To Be Hyphy is To Do Hyphy
"Hyphy" is a style of hip hop dancing, rapping, talking and "just being." Hyphy is pronounced like it sounds, "hi fee" or "HYE-fee." Hyphy could be described as the Bay area or the West Coast rebuttal to the Southern "crunk" style. They have similarities, believe it or not, as both have a style of music, noisy and harsh, that fuels the craze. Hyphy comes from the roots of hip hop in the West Coast and San Francisco Bay area and stays true to those roots. Hyphy sometimes spoofs itself where mainstream rappers wear dark shades and lots of bling, the hyphy rappers will have terms such as "Stunna Shades" to mean wearing large sunglasses, sometimes aviator style, worn to be hyphy. They accessorize with basic clothing, sagging jeans and the standard white T-shirts.
2. Follow the Hyphy Music Scene
Hyphy musical artists have a huge following that spreads throughout the entire hip hop scene. One of the big ones is "E-40." In his music lyrics he raps of being from the Bay and references "hyphy" as a way of life, with great pride in its roots. Listen to some of his songs like "Tell Me When To Go" and you understand what hyphy is all about. Check out other well-known hyphy artists like Keak Da Sneak, the Federation, Too Short and Mac Dre. Keak Da Sneak is credited with being one of the first or the first hyphy artist to reference the hyphy movement in his musical lyrics or on an album.
3. Talk the Hyphy Slang, If You Can
Hyphy is more than music, it's attitude and a culture language all its own. It uses an entire world of slang that's second nature to the hyphy culture, but may take mainstream America a bit more time to figure out what's being said. Some phrases are easier to decipher than others; "Shake dem Dreads" actually means to shake or move the head to the beat of the music quickly especially for those who have dreads or cornrow hair styles to shake. Even the term "Gas-brake dippin" can be figured out to mean hitting the brake and gas alternately while driving to give that bounce or stall to the movement of a car. This is also referred to as "Yokin." Some of the slang terms are used to reference drugs and such, like "Yay" or "Yayo" might be referring to cocaine. Other terms such as "Going Dumb/18 Dummy, Silly, Getting Stupid" and "Ridin' the Yellow Bus" make reference to having fun in the local Bay area, but also to drugs or alcohol abuse.
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