Most of my friends and associates are older than me, and I just turned thirty. Like those before us, my age group is quickly becoming oblivious to what’s cool, hip, fly, phat, dope, or the bomb; of those phrases, cool may be the only one still in circulation, and it’s still not cool to refer to oneself as cool. The problem is that we’re a productive bunch, and that usually means less rap music; which is the news for people who are so misinformed, that portraying art becomes their life. Popularity ultimately drives catch phrases into a culture’s vernacular, and we get left behind, because we’re more concerned with earning the Money, Power, and Respect that reciting lyrics did not give us. While hanging out, chilling, and relaxing all cool, conversations lose context when new slang goes over our head; in turn, this is the first in a series of posts to stay up to date with the ever changing Ebonics around me.

When I think of something turning up, I think of a volume knob on a stereo set, or the sudden appearance of something that previously went missing; like, my car keys turned up, you wouldn’t believe where I found them. If I had to associate the phrase with a slang connotation, arriving late to a party would make some sense to me; then we could do away with mentioning colored people time. Due to the term’s constant attachment to photographs of unsupervised raving, I deduced that being turned up appears to be the opposite of being faded. If you’re also confused by the term faded, then you are not alone, you’re also in luck! To digress, a faded person is usually “out of it” due to excessive narcotics consumption, they may also “black out,” and must definitely be in a happy stupor. Faded and turned up are not exact opposites though, because I assume you can get faded anywhere: at work, or with your children in the kitchen; whereas, based on observations, being turned up involves energetic people at parties; no one is getting turned up at the Laundromat.

Music is an integral part of the turn up community, per music videos and sing-along hooks, the genre of music also appears to be a vital ingredient to the turned up environment. Hip Hop and Rap definitely turn people up, Rock and Roll could potentially provide turn up tracks; Gospel, Country, and Alternative Rock are not conducive to turning up.

Before you graduate from this course, with the knowledge necessary to confidently turn yourself up, I must introduce you to the formal spelling: turnt up. For the life of me I can’t figure out where the extra “t” came from; however, you will look like an amateur without it. Do your best to erode any advanced grasp of the English language you may possess, now you’re ready to turn up, get turned up, and start turning things up; that last one really doesn’t compute, don’t use it.