Los Angeles Gang Bangin 101

Written by Bandz

Introduction

This guide is targeted at a specific audience. Those who are interested in roleplaying majority black streetgangs out of Los Angeles County. Rather or not you’re taking a more fictional approach with your faction, the info within this guide is more than helpful. As far as majority Hispanic gang RP goes, I wouldn’t recommend you using this guide. It’s not one part of this guide written in favor of majority Hispanic gangs. Hopefully sometime in the future someone from that field of RP will create a guide that breaks down everything for you. But this guide in particular is only meant for one audience and one audience only.

I ask everyone to please not replicate this guide in any way. If you copy and paste this guide in its entirety, have the decency to link your source. That’s all I ask.

Cars / Cards

Neighborhood (Deuces / 2x)
Gangster (Trays / 3x)
Criminal
Rollin 0’s
Blocc
Hustler
Family
Brim
Piru



Cars are a way of gangs identifying themselves more than it is an alliance. Reason I say that is, you have Neighbors beefing with Neighbors, Gangsters beefing with Gangsters, and so on. That goes to show they don’t move as one unit. A lot of hoods who were under the same car broke the alliance a long time ago. These broken truces go as far back as the 80s. An example of Neighborhood on Neighborhood beef could be the beef between Rollin 40’s and Rollin 60’s. An example of Gangster on Gangster beef could be the Broadway Gangsters and 4-Pacc Gangsters beef.

You also have hoods who claim certain cars without parading it in their name nor their graffiti. A good example of that are the Hard Time Hustler Crips, they’re under the Neighborhood car. But, they beef with Rollin 90’s as well as 83 Gangsters. As you can see, it gets a bit screwed up sometimes. So it’s very important that you figure out exactly what car the gang you wish to roleplay is under. That’s if they’re even under a car.

Some hoods weren’t with the whole idea of banging under a certain car and fought for their originality. Like most would think Rollin 30’s Harlem would push Neighborhood but they don’t. They’re the only Rollin 0’s set that don’t push Neighborhood. And believe, they weren't able to pull that off easily. Gangs were being held under a lot of pressure during the era where everyone was being asked to move up under a car or just get rolled over. Yes, 30’s are Rollin 0’s, but that car is usually always connected to the NHC car. That’s what makes this situation different.

The most recent incident of flipping from one car to another is the Menlos switching from Gangster Crip to Neighborhood. This took place around 2017. Menlo Gangster Crip began beefing with 83 Gangster Crip and felt betrayed by the Gangster car as a whole. It took a lot of politicking but they eventually earned their Neighborhood Crip title.

Honorable mentions, the Budlong Gangster Crips and Pimp Town Gangster Crips are NHC.

Generations

Triple OG
Double OG
OG
Original Baby Gangster (OBG)
Baby Gangster (BG)
Original Tiny Gangster (OTG)
Tiny Gangster (TG)
Original Young Gangster (OYG)
Young Gangster (YG)
Tiny Young Gangster (TYG)



Generation - members who joined at about the same time, regarded collectively.

Mistaking generations for ranks is a regular mistake. They’re not ranks. There’s no structure of hierarchy in these gangs. Mind you, we’re talking about California here. The way some other states get down doesn’t matter. We’re talking about Cali’s get-down. In L.A., these names were put in place to identify homies with a certain generation. So no, there’s no such thing as a 20 year old OG. You will never see that. OGs are old as crap now.

How do you know what generation someone’s in? The time period of them starting to bang will tell you. Let’s take a blood hood for example. If the hood you’re about to get jumped in has TYGs as their latest generation, well you’re about to be a TYG. Simply because you were put on during the TYG generation. That should be easy to understand. If you were put on the set during the YG generation then you would’ve been a YG. If you were put on during the TG generation then you would’ve been a TG. But no, you were put on in recent years where the TYG generation was kicking off. So that’s what you are and you’re gonna be that forever. The only time things might change is when years go by and the used-to-be TYGs start claiming Original Tiny Young Gangsters (OTYGs) or something of that sort.

We’re living in a time where we’re starting to see OGs die off and new generations come about. Tiny Young Gangster is the newest generation name that a lot of damu hoods are using. But you have some hoods getting unique with theirs. Like Fruit Town Brim, their youngest generation are called Infamous Gangster Brims. You also have Crip hoods calling their newest generation of youngsters Tiny Locs. Like the Playboy Gangster Crips. This is proof that generation names are unique to individual hoods. So it’s important to know what generation names the gang you’re going to be roleplaying have before opening.

Nicknames

Big (Number 1)
Lil (Number 2)
Baby (Number 3)
Tiny (Number 4)
Infant (Number 5)
Newborn (Number 6)



I want to explain the whole thing with gang members throwing Big, Lil, Baby, Tiny, Infant or Newborn in front of their names. It’s just to differentiate one homie that has the same name as another homie from the hood. It keeps away confusion. A homie is a Big if he’s the first homie from his hood with his particular name. Whoever gets the same name after him will be Lil also referred to as Numba 2. Baby is Number 3, Tiny is Numba 4, Infant is Number 5 and Newborn is Number 6. It’s quite easy to comprehend. There’s nothing complicated about it at all.

If a female member ends up with the same name as some homeboys from the hood then it’s the same routine except with Lady in front. And it starts over for females. Basically, if there's five homeboys named Nitemare, and a girl gets the name, she’ll be Big Lady Nitemare. If a second homegirl gets the name she’ll be Lil Lady Nitemare, and so on.

When do members get their name? I know it’s quite traditional for factions to roleplay giving a member their name right after being put on. Nothing’s wrong with that, but that’s not always the case. A lot of the time, guys get a name before their put-on or even much later after. It’s about the time of events in one’s life. Either they earned a name already or they haven’t yet.

How are names given? It’s unique to every individual. You got guys out here with names their momma gave them as a child and their hood just kept it going. Not everyone does something badass and gets a name from the homies. You got names as boring as Slim or Bird, then you got names as crazy as Scatterbrains or Kill A Crab. Some members get their name from being so closely related to another homie or just being similar to another homie. Now that guy or girl will get the same name as that person.

It can be that simple or it can get a bit more crazy. Let's take Nickel Boy from Bounty Hunnas. He earned his name Nickel Boy aka Five Boy from getting into a shootout on 115th Street in Bounty Hunnas territory.

Initiation (Put on) / Born In It vs Not Born In It

Put-on / Official - A beaten handed out by members of a gang as way to join

Very rarely, you have guys that were born into the set and won’t face a put on. How is someone born in it? You literally have babies who’re destined to be from the set because of family members. There’s bangers who’ve been considered a member since they were in the womb. Even had their nickname before being born. It just depends on who your family is and what their reputation is. Some bangers never had a choice. You have Infant ♥♥♥ from Hoover for example. He let it be known he never got put on and has been called ♥♥♥ since a little kid.

More commonly, one isn’t born into the gang. These are the ones that have to walk their own walk. And don’t confuse being born into the gang with growing up in the hood. Just because someone grew up around the hood doesn’t make them liable to bang the set. Some guys just never get around to banging until they’re older. Especially if they don’t have any close relations with anyone from the set. If one does happen to have homies that are already on the set then they just might bang and use their homies’ names as a shield. This person isn’t official, yet. They’re what many in LA would call, a claimer. Sometime down the line they’ll end up getting their official. How long will it take? Well, that depends on if there’s a homie pressing for your put on.

Someone who has no connection to the hood at all and just started showing their face around the set will have the hardest time. A lot of politics come behind that. Especially now with a lot of hoods screaming no new ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and claiming to be the land of no recruitions. This person is more likely to be used and manipulated by certain homies. Some members just aren’t friendly to new faces as much as others may be. The new face will really have to prove themselves to the extreme, unlike someone who isn’t official but has homies from the set.

Put ons aren’t too different from back in the day. It’s usually a jump-in still, but can include head up fades. That head up fade might not last long. Other homies will be sent into action or jump in on their own. Suddenly you’re dealing with three or four guys at once and they’re not giving pity punches. About countdowns, it depends on what gang it is. Some do it, some don’t.

Motives To Join A Gang / Repercussions

The question comes up a lot. Why would someone want to join a gang if they had the choice not to? There’s many reasons. Some reasons may be dumb but it is what it is. You have different characteristics and desires in everybody.

One can simply be fascinated with the style. The dickie suits, golds, rags, music, tattoos, gang signs, tagging, lowriders, slang, etc. Seeing all of this can draw the right kid in. This may not be as cool as the story where the kid is getting bullied at school and plans on getting revenge by joining a street gang, but it is what it is. That’s just not the case most of the time in today’s world. Kids and young teens are out here merely getting put on to dress a certain way, talk a certain way or whatever. There’s guys who want to look the part but don’t want to walk the dirt road. You see it more than ever.

You always will have this one, the motive to have a tough guy act. This motive plays into a lot of other things. Like wanting to look tough for the ladies or just wanting to look tough to your family back at home. Hopefully, if this is the motive, this person is ready to keep the tough guy act up when enemies catch them.

Looking up to someone, not necessarily as a father figure, but more so as someone you want to be like. That one homie or homegirl who has the craziest stories to their name. They did this, they did that. Hearing all this can make any youngster that wishes for a certain status want to join the gang.

What a lot of these young guys and girls fail to think about is the repercussions. At such a young age, most kids don’t think about the future. They’re all about now. There’s always bumps in the road ahead for any gang member. This is why a lot of OGs try to steer youngsters away from gang banging. Some guys are even warned before their put on.

Let's take Cowboy from Rollin 60’s for example. We all remember that video when Cowboy got on to that youngster for tagging up some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on the wall. In that video, Cowboy reminded Ajax that on the day of his put on, he had told him he’s setting himself up for failure. With Cowboy being an OG, he’s been through a whole lot and he knows what comes with gang banging.

Don’t get me wrong though. There are some guys out there who don’t care about any consequences. The types that’ll happily do the crime and even more happily do the time. This is someone who is extremely numb to life and can be considered mentally damaged. Keep in mind, gang members are individuals, everyone has their own angels and demons.

Bangin Activities

Tagging / Strikes
Trooping / Foot Patrolling / Late Night Hanging
Checking Temperatures
Net Bangin
Missions / Skits



Tagging is an aspect of gang banging that I always wish got more attention when it comes to roleplay. It’s common for people to just get the job done when they’re roleplaying tagging. For those that don’t already know, you have to realize that tagging is a very dangerous activity and those bangers do be highly worried most of the time they’re doing it. As soon as you start spraying a wall you just put yourself in the line of fire. No doubt about it. It doesn’t matter if you’re not tagging in an enemy hood. It’s still very dangerous even if you’re in your own hood. Your opps could be spinning your section the moment you decide to go tagging. This is why you see so many videos of taggers trying to hit up quick. And it’s usually a guy or a few guys actually, standing nearby with guns. They know it can get active at any given moment.

I would like to see more people roleplay developing their strikes. Some bangers are very passionate about their strikes. No one’s born knowing how to write. The skill is passed down to younger homies from older homies. Especially when it comes to drawing fingers. That takes a lot of skills and on paper practice. You don’t get to see the practicing side of tagging a lot because that happens behind doors. We only see the final results and that’s when it gets put up on a wall.

I’ve noticed that for some reason, a lot of guys are believing gangs don’t troop anymore and I don’t know where that information is coming from. Trooping or as they call it sometimes, foot patrolling, is a must. What do you think bangers mean when they talk about being outside? They have to hold down the set or else some video will pop up on Instagram of the opps standing on their grounds, or even worse end up losing a portion of their turf to a nearby gang. Older homies stay on younger homies’ necks about getting their hours in. And by getting their hours in I mean getting outside and making sure the set ain’t being ♥♥♥♥♥♥ with. This also plays into late night hanging. You can see bangers brag about late night hanging all the time. It’s a big deal to these young guys to be outside late at night with guns holding the turf down.

Checking temperatures is when a banger confronts another supposed banger about potential beef. This is done literally just to see what’s up. If a hood that you don’t usually beef with suddenly crossed y’all out on a wall, and you catch one of them out in the streets, you’re expected to check the temperature. That’s what your G homies would expect you to do. And checking temperatures doesn't mean shooting a guy down. It’s merely a confrontation.
Net banging has always gotten a lot of attention when it comes to roleplay. But, a lot of the time it gets the wrong kind of attention. I haven’t seen it in a while, but posting pictures of dead bodies isn’t it. That actually did happen in real life, in Los Angeles, but only once. That’s the problem. When some of you roleplayers see something extreme happen in real life, y’all tend to jump straight to saying, “It happened IRL so I can do it In Game.” That’s not justifiable at all. Just because one guy popped somebody and took a picture of the dead body, doesn’t mean your entire faction should start doing it. That’s a once in a lifetime thing. And I don’t care to give information on what gang and what banger actually did that in real life, but just know that happened one time after 50 years of gang banging existing.

Know that there are a lot of different views on net banging. Some homies think it’s clownish while others think it’s just another way of banging. Especially now more than ever. You have guys talking about skits or whatnot in comment sections. I’ve seen guys post direct messages telling one another they’re going to kill them and even talking about shootouts that already happened. This kind of stuff is still pretty much brand new to the game. Most old heads don’t play into it, but you have some that do. That’s a rare case though.

In the last passage I mentioned skits. Skits are almost the same as missions. And yes, missions are a thing and it is exactly what it sounds like. A mission. Keep in mind, not everybody in a gang has shot someone or even shot AT someone. The ones that are usually drafted to go on a mission are those that talk like they want to live like that. Your homies take note of this. A lot of bangers only see three types of bangers. You got your taggers, your fighters and your shooters. You can be one without the other two, two without one, or all three. But characteristics are different in every human being. Don’t play like a shooter when all you’re good for is fighting. Don’t play like a fighter when all you're good for is tagging. Don’t play like a tagger when all you’re good for is fighting or shooting.

Skits come in all types. Unlike missions, skits are not always gang on gang. A skit can be a robbery or a shooting against anybody in this world. In LA music you sometimes hear lines like, “...don’t talk about the skits if you weren't on it.” or, “keep the skits lowkey cause ♥♥♥♥♥♥ out here tellin”. Now missions on the other hand, are strictly gang on gang. If you’re told anything about a mission it’s fair to assume that one hood is about to let shots off on another.

The youngest of guys can be taken on a mission. The kid can be as young as 15 or even younger. It’s all about your banging. If you’re the cause of the issue or talk like you’re a shooter then more than likely you will be told to get in that car.

Politics

Pressing Blank Killa
Turning Nothing Down
Tattoos
Holding Guns
Checking In
Being Outside / Getting Your Hours In
Making Money
DPs (Discipline / Disciplinary Punishment)
Put Offs



Politicking - conversation or argument between gang members about an issue afoot

It’s a lot to talk about when it comes to politicking. Lets jump into pressing blank killa. When you, as one of the homies, begin to press CK, BK, HK, FK... anything killa… it’s gonna be some politicking behind your banging. You might not feel the pressure yet because you’re around some other young homies who don’t politic much but once that right homie sees you they're gonna test your gangster.

Turning nothing down is big and you hear a lot. Most of us already know what this means. You don’t back down from anything no matter who it is. Fight, shootout, it doesn’t matter. If you’re accused of running from a fade, rather it was a homie or enemy, you will be DP’d. If you run from your DP, then just hope that DP doesn't turn into a put off.

Tattoos are major to your banging. If you get the hood on you you better believe you’re signing yourself up for all types of trouble. Especially if you get blank killa on you. Not just anybody can get tattoos like this. Even some of the homies are gonna check your resume. And that’s where the politicking begins. If your lifestyle doesn't match the tattoos you went and got put on you then you gotta get that covered up or at worst get a put off for faulty banging. There was a young guy who wanted to be from Bounty Hunters. He got BH NH tatted on his face before he even got his official. Even though BH cool with Neighborhoods they didn’t take that NH kindly. That young guy ended up getting packed out by BH and was told to leave the hood with no return.

Holding guns is what everyone wants to do right? Well, when it’s time to throw bullets your homies just might take that gun from you. There’s a song that you may have heard, where a banger was talking about how his homies argue with each other about who gets to hold a strap. When in the line of fire, only the shooters get to hold the straps. They’re not just for show.
Checking in is an aspect of banging that I don’t think I’ve ever seen being roleplayed. At least not up to this day of making this guide. Homies as well as homegirls always stay on one another about checking in. If you haven’t been around a certain homie for a while or any of the homies in general, some of them are gonna be like damn why so and so not checking in. It doesn’t take much but one phone call to your homie or homegirl to speak and let them know you straight or to make sure they’re straight. It’s a show of love. And it does piss some homies and HGs off when they feel like you are not picking up their calls or haven’t made an effort to dial their phone up. Usually when someone makes a call In-Game for RP, it’s to ask where one’s at or to tell them about a shooting. Nah, start calling about other genuine things. That small change will make RP feel so much more real as far as character to character relationships go. Make a call to your homie to talk about some funny ♥♥♥♥ that went down in the hood or something. Anything more than just, “Ay we got shot at.” or, “We at the park. Pull up.” Moral of the story is, use your phone like you use your phone in real life.

Being outside, something you hear all gang bangers talking about. We outside. What’s all in context when they say this? I spoke about it a bit in the Bangin Activities section of the guide. Trooping, foot patrolling, late night hanging, ect. Just simple hanging out and being easy to find. You don’t get no points for being in the house all day everyday. Like some bangers call it, you got to get your hours in. A TYG from Outlaw 20 Bloods posted a story where he was telling young members to start getting their hours in or get put off. That should tell you what you need to know about the importance of being outside. Not necessarily being a frontliner, but just being out in the set. Actually being a factor.

Not all hoods are big on this, but some are, making money. I’ve seen multiple Instagram posts of homies ranting about other homies not doing anything to get money and just sitting around being bums. There’s politics behind someone being useless. If you got put on the hood just to sit around being broke all the time, then you might as well be locked up doing a life sentence. Not saying that myself, but that’s how some homies see it.

DPs, we’ve all seen this dumb act, where a player leaves their faction because their character had to get DP’d. If that ain’t the dumbest thing to do I don’t know what it is. DP’s come with banging. You do something that makes the hood look bad, you’re getting disciplined. In other words, you will get hands and feet put on you but at the end of it all you’re still from the hood and you will be respected for taking yours on the chin. I also want to say, you have to fight back during a DP. Otherwise you’re gonna find yourself fighting for twenty minutes when it could’ve been five minutes. And running from your DP is the worst thing you can do. And it’s pretty often to see. Guys get the news that they need to come to the set and get DP’d, they avoid coming around. This will make things much worse once you get caught and could even be flipped into a put off.

A put off is usually much more crucial than a DP. Head stomps after you’re on the ground knocked already are liable depending on what you did. Nobody wants that. But you know what you got yourself into the day you got put on the hood. There’s all kinds of reasons that call for a put off. Either you ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up too much or you did something extremely critical to the hood’s name. It’s been more than one incident that went viral on social media of someone getting put off for performing a gay act. This will end up in a put off no doubt. There’s also been put offs that went viral online for reasons of child molestation or molestation in general. Less extreme incidents though, put offs are handed out for being scary, running from fades, not being in the hood at all but banging on the net, not shooting the strap you got on you when the enemies pulled up, it’s a lot. Some have even been put off because their family that’s also from the set didn’t want them to bang. That’s what happened to Treyway from Hoover. But he ended up getting put on again. You just have to be able to point out when something is bad enough to call for a put off.

Functions & Festivities

Hood Day / Set Day
Airbnb Party
Hood vs Hood Baseball Game / Basketball Game
Welcome Home Party
Dice Game
Food Drive
Listening Party



Mostly all of these should be familiar to you. Especially hood days. This is a gathering that happens once a year on the same day. Every hood got their own unique hood day. Most of the days relate to the number in their hood’s name. But, that’s not always the case. So, I advise you to figure out exactly when the gang you’re gonna be roleplaying hood day is and why it’s on that day. That’s if you’re not gonna create your own made-up hood day.

Airbnb parties are very common. They’re usually done as an after-party for Hood Day, but of course they’re also thrown randomly just for a little fun. These Airbnbs are rented out for a certain amount of hours and the money comes from a couple of homies and homegirls who are able to chip in. If you didn’t put money in on the house then you have no say so in what goes on at the house.

This is another one we all know about. The baseball games and basketball games. And we know how difficult it is trying to pull these off. It gets messy trying to play basketball In-Game so imagine trying to roleplay a baseball game. It’ll be very messy right? What I’ll recommend is OOC’ly declaring the winner beforehand with the opposing faction, and you both just come together and roleplay the hanging out part of it all. The aftermath of the game basically. So you can have the baseball skins, be at a baseball field or court, but just RP as the game has already happened and everyone’s just hanging out. But… if you do want to RP the game, then simplify things a whole lot so there’s not much confusion.

Welcome home parties are thrown for reptable members who’re coming home from prison after a long time away. Don’t make it your obligation to throw a welcome home party for every character that gets released from jail or prison though. Most of the time bangers come home all they do is smoke a blunt, get some ♥♥♥♥♥ and go link up with their main homie. It’s not always a party. But if y’all have a character in the faction whose extremely loved by everybody from the hood, then a welcome home party is called for.


The famous dice games. Yes, I’m making a paragraph just for dice games. I’ll like it if everyone actually learned to play craps instead of roleplaying a made-up dice game. To me that’s taking the easy way out. To explain just how major dice games can get, there’s been many times where two or more hoods throw a party and some guys show up just to hop in the dice games. I’m talking about guys who don’t even want to party. They just know they’ll be dice games going and they want to be there for it. They bring their money, give quick waves and nods to whoever is in the way and walks straight to the dice game. Stay all night doing the same thing. A lot of gang members have bonded over dice games just as much as they’ve started beefing over dice games.

Food drives are a show of good deed from gang members who have money or just an upstanding member of their community. You pull in a truck of food or just buy a load of pizza boxes and water cases, go out into the hood and hand out free food. And rather you take it as one or not, believe, this is usually a genuine act by these guys and not some sort of clout chasing. Some guys grow to see the bigger picture.

One thing I haven’t seen done are listening parties. When a homie is about to drop an album or a mixtape, sometimes he wants the hood to give an ear for it first. So he’ll throw a party where the music from his project will be played. Maybe he’ll perform, maybe he won’t perform. This can easily be done. The music can be played through discord or it can be played through the server if the server you’re on has a script that makes it able to play linked audio.

CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums)

CRASH is a common topic in day to day conversation in LA hoods till this very day. They’ve been the cause of many gang members being caught and sentenced. This was a specialized unit of the Los Angeles Police Department to combat the problems of rising gangs in Los Angeles, California. They were exposed of corruption and got disbanded in 2000, then replaced by the LAPD Gang & Narcotics Division. Although this is true, gang members still call them CRASH. You even hear youngsters of today screaming ♥♥♥♥ CRASH when cops are around.

Lyrics from Brazy Boy on Really From The Village Remix, “In the back of this alley taking a sherm bath, the burn on me and I bee CRASH, say I ain’t no sucka take this belt off my blammer and break on they ass.”

[idiot 3]

https://youtu.be/DdmNYNkcwKE

[rimuru]

alright