#texas

Texas/Gulf-Coast rap as the third hip-hop region, after East and West.

A tense situation — beef, drama, or trouble brewing.

Dallas archetype: average earner flexing luxury they can't actually afford.

True + real, fused. The realest stamp of approval in Southern rap.

About to swing by — Houston cruising vocabulary.

The Rio Grande Valley — deep South Texas along the Mexico border.

Marketing-coined label for the Dallas–Fort Worth metro region.

Swerving a slab side-to-side down the street on purpose.

The spare tire mounted vertical on the trunk of a Houston slab — chrome, swangin', mandatory.

Caló for 'no problem / no sweat' — literally 'no fart.'

Hiram Clarke — south-west Houston neighbourhood.

Chicano Caló shortening of San Antonio.

Cheap fast food from the hood — wing spots, taquerias, corner-store plates.

Translucent wet-look paint job in Skittle-bright colors — the defining finish of a Houston slab.

Protruding 30-spoke wire wheels fitted to Houston slabs — also called elbows.

Sprite cut with codeine cough syrup — another name for lean.

Pimp C's name for UGK's slow, gospel-soaked Texas sound.

'Downtown' in Houston drawl.

Past tense of 'overstand' — understood, agreed, and locked in.

Houston interjection — 'man, hold up'.

The 2000 Three 6 x UGK single that put purple drank on the national map.

Wasted on lean — or, depending on tone, just incredibly cool.

Tex-Mex Spanglish for 'watch out' or 'check this out.'

Acres Homes — named after the #44 Metro bus that runs through it.

Remote-popping trunk rigged with neon, amps and speakers.

Junk, odds and ends, random clutter.

Missouri City — Houston's southwest suburb, half-jokingly 'Misery City.'

How locals say Humble, TX — the H is silent.

Lean. The drink gets its colour from the promethazine.

Houston's Fifth Ward — historic, hard, and often called 'The Bloody Nickel.'

North Houston street whose 'Kirk-en-doll' pronunciation outs you as local or tourist.

Showing off the jewelry, the car, the bread — loud and unbothered.

Houston name for the long horizontally protruding wire wheels on a slab.

Cruising slow in a slab so everybody sees you.

Houston-flavoured 'what's up?' — the city's signature greeting.

Texan for the highway frontage/access road.

The holy-grail 1984 Cragar wire rims — Houston slab royalty.

Houston's weekly meet-up where slab owners bring the candy paint out.

Nickname for El Paso, Texas — the birthplace of pachuco culture.

Throw up a sideways peace sign — Houston's 'peace out'.