Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a lot (of), many.

1986		Too $hort ‘The Bitch Sucks Dick’ 🎵 It was hella times, and it all was nice.
1993		Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Murder was the Case’ 🎵 Livin like a baller loc / I’m havin money, and blowin hella chronic smoke.
2003		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 4: hella – to a large degree or amount [...] There were hella people at that party last night.
2005		C. Buzzell My War (2006) 22: Dude, I’ve done like hella drugs, man.
2012		Nicki Minaj ‘Beez In The Trap’ 🎵 New Jersey got hella bricks.
2015		67 ‘Take It There’ 🎵 Ten toes on the block with the gang hella times on the pave.

2. very, extremely, really.

1989		MC Twist ‘B-L-N-T’ 🎵 I’m makin hella more cents than nickels and dimes.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 14: Hella: 1. Very; a lot. [...]. 2. indeed; very; certainly.
1999		Dr Dre ‘Bitch Ass Niggaz’ 🎵 Bitch nigga, a bitch nigga / Bitch nigga, hella bitch nigga.
2004		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: hella – very: That show was hella awesome.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 233: Dickens is an unincorporated city [...] Used to be all black, now there’s hella Mexicans.