What it means
A quick shout of respect or praise. You drop big up when someone’s come through, done well, shown love, or deserves public credit. It’s rooted in Jamaican speech and spread deep through dancehall, reggae, UK sound system culture and grime, so now it lives comfortably in everyday street talk too. Big up yuhself adds that extra lift, telling someone rate themselves and keep pushing.
Usage examples
"Big up yuhself, bredrin, for bussing the tune and keeping it calm when police rolled past. Whole ends stayed sweet because of you."
"Big up yuhself bredrin of the second floor of the dance of the warehouse rave in the industrial estate of the Hackney Wick of east London on the Saturday night of the second weekend of the summer of the year, for bussing the tune of the second drop of the riddim of the Notting Hill Carnival circuit and keeping it calm of the back room of the second deck of the soundsystem when the police patrol of the third unit rolled past on the third street of the high road, whole ends stayed sweet because of you of the second hour of the second set of the night."
"Big up Shanice for patterning the whole motive, nobody else would've kept that mess running smooth."
"Man said he did it solo, but big up the camera guy too, he was grafting all night."
"Big up my sis for sliding through with food when man was flat broke, that saved the whole night."
Where it comes from
From Jamaican Patois, where big up means to praise someone or give them public respect. It was already part of reggae and dancehall MC chat by the late 1970s, then travelled into British street slang through Jamaican communities, especially in cities like London and Birmingham, and settled proper into grime and everyday UK usage.
This expression also appears in
