No Cap: Tracing the Origins of a Modern Lie

The etymology of the word ‘cap’ and its counterpart ‘no cap’ illustrates a significant evolution in modern slang, particularly in music and youth culture. The English lexicon is a constantly changing one and it is driven largely by social media and popular culture in the modern day. What was once confined to the people of an American city have today become ubiquitous, especially among younger generations. While these terms might seem recent to the average gen-z social media user, a deeper look into its etymology reveals its history as an English verb as well as a part of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). How then does a word go from an African American cultural tradition to hip-hop to screens worldwide is what this study seeks to uncover. 

The core meaning of the slang word ‘cap’ is derived from an older usage of it as a verb. ‘To cap’ has long meant ‘to top’ or ‘to surpass’. This meaning is crucial for us to understand the semantic shift to the current usage of the term. When we trace the word ‘cap’ to its etymological word, we find that it originates from the Old English word, cæppe, which meant hood or head-covering. The word itself was a germanic borrowing of the word kappe (CAP - Etymology, Origin & Meaning).  

While the meaning of cap changing from ‘head-covering’ as a noun to ‘to top’ as a verb was a much older shift, the change in meaning to lying was an influence of AAVE. The cultural traditions within black communities included a certain practice known as ‘the dozens’. This practice was a game of verbal sparring between young men of the African American community (considered crucial to the development of rap) which included insults and in this context, ‘cap on’ meant to outdo someone verbally or deliver a sharp insult (Fink & Robert, 2014). This environment gave the term the fertile ground to shift semantically into dishonest boasting as ‘capping’. The phrase ‘high-capping’, which appears in hip-hop lyrics in the 1980s and 1990s bridged a cultural tradition found in ‘the dozens’ to the larger world of hip-hop music (Merriam-Webster, 2025). This usage of the term led to the verb ‘capping’, taking a piece of vernacular into a larger body of language which was more recognisable. 

The phrase ‘no cap’ was a more recent development as an inversion of the aforementioned meaning of ‘cap’. This statement of truth affirmation was made popular after the adoption of it by the hip-hop community. It was likely that it existed in usage in AAVE but its usage by Atlanta-based rappers from around 2017 took ‘no cap’ storming into social media and through it, a global audience. Genius.com, a YouTube channel that covered music and music lyrics specifically, marked the usage of the term ‘no cap’ in the years 2016, 2017, and 2018. Their results showed the phrase becoming ten times more popular in hip-hop lyrics in 2018 when compared to 2017 (Genius, 2019).  

As the word enters the global scene, celebrities such as Kendall Jenner and Cardi B popularised the usage on social media. As influencers on social media, their actions reflected on searches on Google as ‘No cap meaning’ becomes a trending search globally.

This rapid growth post-2016 then took the phrase straight from Atlanta to users of social media sites like TikTok and X (formerly twitter) where it was swiftly adopted by Gen Z users. The concise nature of the phrases ‘cap’ and ‘no cap’ and their ease of use, from calling out statement as mere boasting to asserting that what someone said was indeed the truth made it ideal for digital communication. The phrases were soon translated into emojis with a combination of the ‘no entry’ sign and a baseball cap meaning ‘no cap’ (🚫🧢), and the baseball cap itself meaning ‘cap’ (🧢).  

One of the earliest instances of the usage of the phrase “no cap” was by the rap group Migos in their song ‘Deadz’ released on 27 January 2017: “No for real, no cap, my money long like anacondas / No for real, no cap, I keep a sack like Sapp and Tucker”. We see here the usage of the phrase right next to the phrase ‘for real’, both truth-affirming statements. This song was one of the reasons why the phrase got so popular as the wide-reaching influence of Migos certainly left a mark on hip-hop vocabulary. Of the many results of this effect was the Hindi track ‘No Cap’ released by Indian rapper Kr$na in 2021, four years later, the lyrics of which go “Main asli mein asli hoon no cap, Beaton pe jungli hoon no cap, Dheet hoon main sanki hoon no cap, Karta main maan ki hoon no cap”. The usage of the slang here works to affirm his claims on his skill and authenticity as a rapper. These two examples illustrate the far reaching influence of slangs and vernacular just in the world of hip-hop, all the way from Atlanta to New Delhi. 

The evolution of ‘cap’ is a study in linguistic change of how a term can change over centuries of use and how certain cultures such as hip-hop and AAVE can significantly influence it. The power of social media to rapidly disseminate information and new linguistic forms is illustrated by the adoption of ‘no cap’ in the popular lexicon. The history of the etymology of ‘cap’ spanning over centuries enlighten us on the layers of language and influence that lie buried under a seemingly recent slang term. 

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References 

CAP - Etymology, Origin & Meaning. (n.d.). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/cap 

Carey, E. (2021, November 2). What does fact or cap mean? On TikTok, the phrase is used for mythbusting. Bustle. https://www.bustle.com/life/fact-or-cap-meaning-tiktok 

Do you know what these Gen Z slang terms Mean—And where they really come from? (2022). In Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/gen-z-slang/ 

Fink, & Robert. (2014, March 14). The dozens | Competition, Rhyming, Insults. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-dozens 

Genius. (2019, March 21). Who started “No Cap?” | Genius News [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLn4srt90BQ 

Hypergogo. (2024, August 30). No cap: Uncovering the true meaning behind this slang! HYPER GOGO. https://www.hypergogo.com/blogs/lifestyle/no-cap 

Interest over time: “No cap meaning.” (n.d.). In trends.google.com/trends. Retrieved August 14, 2025, from https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=no cap meaning 

Merriam-Webster. (2025). Words we’re watching: “Cap.” In Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-were-watching-cap