issa

djbooth.net

Pronouncing it’s and a into issa has long been a feature of dialectical English. Consider gonna for going to, recorded in the 19th century and almost certainly used in speech before it was ever written down. Imma, for I’m a, and tryna, for trying to, are other examples that have gained mainstream attention in the 2000s.

In the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – Phantom Menace, the Gugans, a race of creatures that included the notorious Jar Jar Binks, spoke in a kind of pidgin English which treated it’s a as issa, calling to mind crude imitations of Italians speaking English.

Issa’s 15 minutes of fame came in July, 2016, when a celebrity and hip-hop news site asked Atlanta-native rapper 21 Savage (Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) about the tattoo on his forehead, which looks like a cross. 21 Savage replied “Issa knife,” explaining that he got the tattoo in memory of his younger brother, a victim of gang violence.

While you might not think that response would spark a meme, you underestimate the internet, which took the phrase and ran with it, from Harry Potter to Super Mario Bros to, yes, Jar Jar Binks.

21 Savage milked the meme, too, claiming issa was “the most used new word of 2017″… in January, 2017.

I made a new word "ISSA" and it's the most used new word of 2017! we're is my recognition ?😂

— Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) January 31, 2017

In February, 2017, the rapper announced his tour, called Issa Tour, and released an album, Issa Album, in July, 2017.