swang
Words nearby swang
ABOUT THIS WORD
What else does swang mean?
Swang is a slang term for showily steering a car side to side while driving. It can also be slang for chilling out and feeling good.
Where does swang come from?
While most commonly used as a past tense for the verb swing, swang has an entire other life in the world of slang. Recorded in Black slang by the 2000s, swang is when someone drives a (usually tricked-out) car slowly and widely, as if swinging the car from one side of a lane or road to the other. The use of the past tense (or sound of certain past tense forms) is apparently modeled on other such forms in Black slang, including drank (âcough syrup drunk recreationallyâ) and stank (âsmell of sexâ).
The hit 2005 song by rapper Chamillionaire âRidinâ helped get swang onto the airwaves and into popular culture. Swang is heard in its chorus: âTryna catch me ridinâ dirty / My musicâs so loud, Iâm swanginâ / They hopinâ that they gonna catch me ridinâ dirty.â The song was at the top of the charts in over five countries.
Swang was revitalized when rap duo Rae Sremmurd released their 2016 song âSwang.â They gave the meaning of swang a twist: âchilled out,â not unlike when a car is swanginâ down the road. The hook goes: âKnow some young n*iggas like to swang / Big bank take a little bank / Everyday spillinâ up drank.â
How is swang used in real life?
Houston, Texas especially favors the swang, where slabs (custom cars) feature swangas (spoke rims).
I remember when I first moved to Houston I use to be scared to drive ! Now………….be SWANGIN SWANGIN ! đ€Ł
— Prettiambition (@NikkJagger_) November 29, 2018
Car aficionados may tag pictures of their cars with #swang or #swangin to prove that theyâre driving a souped up ride.
if u #Swangin #Slab or #HooDoo jam #DJango on #SwangazOnVoguesRadio 2 by Me & @superdave90713 http://t.co/0gz27C09sp pic.twitter.com/QqpafzFFj4
— Pollie Pop (@PolliePopThaDJ) June 13, 2013
More examples of swang:
âIâm from Houston where we swang and not swerve đ€đŒâ
â@97raxx, November 2018
“Candy paint and elbows: Swangin’ through Houston’s slab sceneâ
âEliott C. McLaughlin, CNN (headline), November 2016
Note
This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the termâs history, meaning, and usage.