Meaning
What does Stay Strapped or Get Clapped mean?
Stay strapped or get clapped is a slang expression, conveying the hood wisdom of “either you’re armed or your body is hauled”.
It is an urban variation of the colloquial expression “kill or be killed”.
Origin
What's the origin of Stay Strapped or Get Clapped?
It is hard to determine the origin of the phrase, as hip hop culture is known for producing lines of street wisdom, adorned with ghetto slang and rhymes.
“Stay strapped or get clapped” could be traced back to the 90’s, to the golden age of hip hop and gang violence, where “staying strapped” might indeed have saved someone’s life.
Spread & Usage
How did Stay Strapped or Get Clapped spread?
The phrase would appear online in the late 2010’s, predominantly on memes on sites like Reddit, iFunny, MemeDroid or YouTube.
It was first defined on Urban Dictionary in 2020.
External resources
- Urban Dictionary – Stay strapped or get clapped