100+ Hip Hop / Urban Slang Words for Money: The Ultimate List

100+ Hip Hop / Urban Slang Words for Money: The Ultimate List

If you've ever wondered why there are so many different slang words for money, Hip Hop culture is a great place to start.

Today I'm giving you a list of more than 100 Hip Hop slang terms that mean "money." Some of these words were created from scratch. Some are borrowed from other cultures and languages. Others are everyday words that were repurposed and given entirely new meanings through use in rap music, urban communities, and street culture.

Whether you're looking for hip hop slang for money, urban slang for money, rap slang for money, or simply slang words for money in general, this list has you covered.

Why Does Hip Hop Have So Many Slang Words for Money?

Few cultural movements have influenced modern slang as much as Hip Hop.

Over the past fifty years, Hip Hop culture has created, adopted, reshaped, and popularized thousands of slang terms. Many of these expressions started in neighborhoods across urban America before eventually making their way into music, movies, television, advertising, and everyday conversation.

Like alchemy, Hip Hop's nature is to take something old and transform it into something new. Hip Hop slang follows the same process. Ordinary English words become colorful expressions filled with personality, meaning, and cultural context.

Because Hip Hop developed within diverse Black and Brown communities throughout America, urban slang became incredibly creative, flexible, and expressive. New words appear. Old words return. Meanings shift. Slang evolves at the speed of culture.

The Evolution of Urban Slang and Rap Slang

As an MC who has been writing rhymes for more than thirty years, slang is something that's always been near and dear to my heart.

One of the things I love most about Hip Hop is the way it constantly reinvents language. A new generation arrives and creates new slang. Sometimes old slang disappears. Sometimes old slang comes back and becomes popular again. The language is always moving.

I was born in 1979, the same year that many people point to the release of "Rapper's Delight" as the beginning of commercially recorded Hip Hop. In a lot of ways, I've had a front-row seat to watching rap slang evolve in real time.

Every decade introduced new words, new meanings, and new ways of expressing old ideas. The slang never sits still. It grows, adapts, and reflects whatever is happening in the culture at that moment.

How Hip Hop Slang Influenced Everyday Speech

One thing that makes Hip Hop unique is how far its influence extends.

You don't have to be an Emcee, DJ, producer, b-boy, b-girl, or even a Hip Hop fan to use Hip Hop slang. Many expressions that originated in Black American communities eventually found their way into mainstream speech.

Years ago, surf culture had become so mainstream, it had words and phrases that briefly entered popular culture. People who had never touched a surfboard still found themselves saying things they heard in movies and television.

Like the word "tubular" which came from surf culture—especially in the 1980s. It refers to the hollow part of a wave, like when a surfer rides inside the curl. So, if something was "tubular," it was awesome, gnarly, or just really cool in that classic surf vibe. Eventually, it kind of crossed over into mainstream slang, thanks to 80s pop culture, but it definitely has that surf origin.

Hip Hop operates like that but on a much larger scale.

Today, people from every background use slang that either originated in or became popular through Hip Hop culture. Many don't even realize where some of these words came from.

That's the power of language. That's the power of culture.

Slang Is Creative Power

For writers, rappers, poets, comedians, and storytellers, slang is more than vocabulary.

Slang adds color.

It adds rhythm.

It creates opportunities for wordplay, puns, double entendres, and layered meanings.

Take a simple word like "word."

Depending on the situation, "word?" can express surprise.

"Word." can express agreement.

"Word..." can express disappointment.

The exact same word can mean several different things depending on tone, context, and delivery. The same principle applies to many curse words used throughout urban culture. Their meaning often changes depending on who says them, how they're said, and the emotion behind them.

Language becomes flexible.

Language becomes art.

And that's one of the reasons Hip Hop has always fascinated me as both a writer and an MC.

What Types of Slang Words Are On This List?

This list contains four different types of slang for money:

Original Slang Words

Words created from scratch, such as "moola" and "lucci."

Repurposed Words

Words like "cake," "bread," and "scratch" that originally meant something entirely different.

Mispronunciations That Became Slang

Words like "hunned or hundo," which evolved from the word "hundred."

Borrowed Words

Words adopted from other languages and cultures, such as "dinero," which comes from Spanish.

100+ Hip Hop Slang Words for Money

So without further ado, here's a list of more than 100 slang words for money used throughout Hip Hop, rap culture, and urban communities.

Bon appétit.

What words are Hip Hop slang for money?

100+ WORDS FOR THAT MEAN GREEN:

1. Bacon (money)

2. Bag (money, wealth, or a profitable opportunity)

3. Bands (rubber bands wrapped around stacks of cash)

4. Bank (a large amount of money)

5. Bankroll (a person's money supply or financial backing)

6. Benjamins (refers to Benjamin Franklin on the U.S. $100 bill)

7. Big Ones (thousands of dollars)

8. Bills (paper money, as in dollar bills)

9. Biscuits (money)

10. Bits (money, sometimes used for digital money)

11. Blue Cheese (money, often referring to hundred-dollar bills)

12. Blue Faces (hundred-dollar bills with blue security strips)

13. Bones (money)

14. Bread (money, earnings, income)

15. Breadwinner (a person who earns the money)

16. Brick (a tightly stacked bundle of money)

17. Bucks (dollars)

18. C.R.E.A.M. ("Cash Rules Everything Around Me" from the Wu-Tang Clan song)

19. C-Note (a one hundred dollar bill)

20. Cabbage (money because it's green and leafy)

21. Cake (money, derived from dough)

22. Capital (money used for business or investment)

23. Cash (physical money)

24. Change (money)

25. Checks (paychecks or money received)

26. Cheddar (money)

27. Cheese (money)

28. Chicken (money, especially in Southern Hip Hop slang)

29. Chips (money, inspired by gambling chips)

30. Chump Change (a very small amount of money)

31. Clams (money)

32. Coin (money)

33. Coins (money)

34. Currency (money)

35. Dead Presidents (U.S. money featuring deceased presidents)

36. Dimo (slang variation of dime, meaning ten)

37. Dinero (Spanish word for money)

38. Dividends (money earned from investments)

39. Doing Units (making money by moving products in volume)

40. Dollars (money)

41. Dough (money)

42. Dub (slang for twenty dollars)

43. Duckets (derived from the old European currency called ducats)

44. Ends (money, as in "making ends")

45. Faces (money, referring to the faces printed on bills)

46. Fetti (money)

47. Fiat (government-issued paper money)

48. Fideen (slang pronunciation of fifteen)

49. Five-Spot (five dollars)

50. Franklins (hundred-dollar bills featuring Benjamin Franklin)

51. Funds (money)

52. G (one thousand dollars)

53. Gold (money or wealth)

54. Grand (one thousand dollars)

55. Green (money, especially U.S. dollars)

56. Greenbacks (paper money, especially dollars)

57. Grip (a large amount of money)

58. Guac (money, derived from guacamole and associated with green)

59. Gualla (money)

60. Guap (money)

61. Gwop (money, alternate spelling of guap)

62. Hunned (slang pronunciation of hundred)

63. Jacksons (twenty-dollar bills featuring Andrew Jackson)

64. K (one thousand dollars)

65. Knot (a large bundle of cash)

66. Large (a large amount of money)

67. Lettuce (money because it's green and leafy)

68. Loot (money)

69. Lucci (Hip Hop slang for money)

70. M's (millions of dollars)

71. Mail (money)

72. Milli (one million dollars)

73. Mill Ticket (one million dollars)

74. Moola (money)

75. Nuggets (money, inspired by gold nuggets)

76. Ones (one-dollar bills)

77. Paper (money)

78. Paper Route (making money consistently)

79. Paycheck (earned income)

80. Payroll (money paid to workers)

81. Payola (money, often associated with influence or payments)

82. Pesos (Latin American currency used slangily to mean money)

83. Pound (five dollars)

84. Profit (money earned)

85. Racks (large amounts of money, often thousands)

86. Revenue (money generated from business activity)

87. Riches (great wealth)

88. Scratch (money)

89. Simoleans (money)

90. Singles (one-dollar bills)

91. Stacks (large stacks of money)

92. Stash (money stored away)

93. Tender (as in legal tender)

94. Ten-Spot (ten dollars)

95. The Bag (wealth, income source, or financial opportunity)

96. Ticket (a specified amount of money)

97. Treasure (wealth or riches)

98. Twenty Piece (twenty dollars)

99. Wad (a thick bundle of cash)

100. Walla (money)

101. Yard (one hundred dollars)

102. Yen (Japanese currency used slangily to mean money)

Do you know any other Urban Slang words for money?

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