o.g., n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

o.g. n.

[abbr.]

1. (US black) a woman, esp. one’s mother or wife [abbr. old girl].

1878		in Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 4 May 2: The old girl [...] ‘Ha, ha, ha! Here’s to the o.g.!’ .
1928		‘Jewelry Auction Jargon’ AS III:5 375: O.G. – Old girl.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 73: O.G.n. Old Girl; mother.

2. (US black) in context of street gangs [abbr. original gangster. The term allegedly appeared with the formation of the Original Gangster Crips, a breakaway group of Los Angeles’ West Side Crips. Both gangs were a sub-group or set n.¹ (1b) of the larger gang, the Crips. One theory suggests that only proven killers qualify as true o.g.s].

(a) a street-smart person, a leading member of a gang; also attrib.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 39: O.G. Original gangster.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 20: I got two O.G. cousins and one cousin about to be O.G. My oldest cousin, he up in Soledad for attempted murder.
1993		Dr Dre ‘Lil’ Ghetto Boy’ 🎵 Cause now I’m what they call a loced-assed O.G.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 119: O.G.s [...] The acronym is the respectful name for the ‘Original Gangstas’, the hard men of the seventies, who fought in the early days of the escalating gangs wars between Bloods and Crips.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 48: ‘I did anything I could to get respect from the OGs’.
2001		Source Aug. 32: Carlito, the war-weary OG, advises: ‘You ain’t a lawyer no more, Dave; you a gangsta now.’.
2013		Big Sean ‘Control’ 🎵 I ain’t takin’ shit from nobody unless they’re OG’s.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 201: ‘[M]ost of the OGs and crews in the Carolinas and Virginia done fell in line’.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 68: OG Mack [authors’ note Omar Portee, currently in federal prison] started that shit on his own.

(b) a close male friend.

2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 6: Inmates exchange intrixcate handshakes and formal titles: OG, young G, boo, bro, baby boy, brutha, dude, cuz, dawg, P, G, daddy, pimpin’, nigga, man, thug thizzle, my boy, my man, homie.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 128/2: OG Original Gangster (in the general sense of a criminal), a common term of address between inmates. [African-American street-gang slang; used in NZ mainly amongst younger Maori or Pacific Island inmates.] .

1998		Source Oct. 74: Dash, one of the O.G. local graf artists.
2004		N. Kelley ‘The Code’ in Brooklyn Noir 172: OGs nodded and went their way.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 154: We [...] see one older brer, proper OG.

(d) high-grade marijuana.

2000		Lunasicc ‘Hundred Spokes’ 🎵 Puffin O.G. on the highway, doin it my way.
2007		UGK ‘Top Drop Dyne’ 🎵 The granddaddy kush mixed with a little O.G.
2012		Wiz Khalifa ‘My Favourite Song’ 🎵 Got a joint full of that O.G.

In phrases

triple O.G. (n.)

a veteran gangster.

2000		Mack 10 ‘From the Streets’ 🎵 Triple O.G.’s with the hot 6-4?s.
2007		Daz Dillinger ‘Gettin’ Money’ 🎵 You’s a triple O.G. if you can make it to see 30.
2012		Big Boi ‘In the A’ 🎵 I’m triple O.G., outrank that nigga.