Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the scarf or similar cloth that is used to bind up one’s newly straightened hair; used as adj. to suggest a lack of sophistication (see cite 2019).

1965		(con. mid-1950s) Claude Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 192: I got tired of being the old-style nigger with the rag around his head.
1966		Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 12 Oct. 60(?)/1: There is no relationship between a kid with a dew rag on his head throwing flaming bottles of gasoline and the constitutional rights of a race of people.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 119: Since I had my hair conked in them day, I had my ’do rag ’round my skull.
1974		F. Zappa ‘Uncle Remus’ 🎵 I can’t wait till my Fro is full-grown / I’ll just throw ’way my Doo-Rag at home.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 68: Nobody wears do-rags no more, you dumb nigger!
1985		G. Tate ‘Atomic Dog’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 29: This cat had a lot more on his mind than snipping naps and knotting up doo-rags.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 49: Dew Rag A plastic cap or bandanna that black inmates use to cover their hair to help retain moisture.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 80: A wraith of a woman weaing a torn army jacket, her hair shoveled under a do-rag.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 192: Dark-skinned and almond-eyed, twenty-something, his hair in a do-rag.
2007		D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 7: The du-rag fitted the crown of his head like a silk stocking and blew loose at the back and side of his neck with the flare of a Foreign Legion cap.
2016		Guardian G2 1 Sept. 10/1: A black man in a du-rag, cargo pants and timberland boots.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] DuPont is a new boot [...] a do-rag cotton picker who probably fucks his own sister in the ass as a form of birth control.

2. a bandanna used as part of one’s gang insignia; also attrib. to imply a gang member (see cite 2023).

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 19: do-rag [...] A bandana folded and ironed according to hoodlumic convention so as to have the proper appearance when hanging from the pants pockets, indicating gang membership.
1996		Bynum & Thompson Juvenile Delinquency 290: Durag. Handkerchief wrapped around head.
1998		Mayor’s Anti-Gang Office City of Houston, TX Street Gang Sl. / Gloss. 9 Nov.: durag (Pronounced doo-rag) Handkerchief or bandanna wrapped around a gang member’s head.
1999		Dr Dre ‘Some L.A. Niggas’ 🎵 In my younger days I used to sport a rag / [...] / G’d up from the feet up.
2000		Observer mag. 9 Jan. 11: Wearing the blue ‘rags’ that served as a uniform.
2003		J. Lethem Fortress of Solitude 429: A stoney-eyed brother in net muscle-shirt and doo-rag.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 241: A trio of hoods in do-rags.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 75: Often rocking a du-rag, big cubic zirconia studs in each ear.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 66: You could see the [authors’ note house gang] goons, the dudes that are the enforcers, the do-rag motherfuckers, the gorillas.