A hooptie is typically a large car popular with the "gangsta" and hip-hop culture. The cars are usually old 1970s or 1980s model cars outfitted with hydraulics or other "gangsta" apparel (Houston rapper Paul Wall refers to these vehicles as slabs - usually Cadillacs). Image File history File linksMetadata Mark_VIII.JPG Summary Lincoln Mark VIII Both Generations. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Mark_VIII.JPG Summary Lincoln Mark VIII Both Generations. ... Gangsters are members of a professional crime organization, i. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City in the early 1970s, and has since spread around the world. ... Album cover of Chick Magnet. ... Cadillac is a brand of luxury automobile, part of the General Motors corporation, produced and mostly sold in the United States; outside of North America, they have been less successful. ...
More recently, hoopties have moved along with the spinner (wheel) fad. Hoopties are popular in movies that seriously portray life in the ghetto and movies that poke fun at various people of other races acting as if they were blacks in the ghetto. A spinner is an automotive accessory, popular with the hip-hop community. ...
Usually, Buick Electras were common as entry-level hoopties (in response to Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1990 hit "My Hooptie"); usual hoopties include beaters covered with house paint or rust buckets. 1962 Buick Electra 225 sedan. ...
Hoopties have several meanings in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, and New York City. For example, the Miami scene emphasizes on 1971-76 Chevrolet Impalas, while in Houston, the 'slabs' refer to any pre-1980 General Motors luxury car regardless of the division. In the Houston Metro area, hoopties with the elbow rims (common to 1983 and 1984 Cadillacs) are a rare find. Houston redirects here. ...
The term may be related to a much earlier usage (1930's-1940's) for an old or beat-up car, "hoopie" or "hoopy", in the Southwest and California.
Can be any size, make or model, but must (or should) be embarrassing to drive for some reason, such as when you bump the stereo all the plastic "effects" you have hot-glued to the exterior rattle, instantly betraying the cheapness of your bling.
A hoopty can be anything from a '78 Cadillac Brogham with the panels missing in front of the brake lights (but replaced on only one side with duct tape), to a fine purple two-year old Hyundai Elantra with three spinner hubcaps and a vanity plate that reads BBY GRL.
The term has also been used in certain circles as an insult to one's boy or girlfriend, as in scrub or hoochie mama.