What’s up y’all! What an interesting T-shirt huh! Well, this one brings an interesting sentence which is actually a question. Let’s break it all down for y’all!

1. Cracken – Sometimes found as “crackin” or “cracking”. This can be used as the verb “to crack”  which looks like a line on the surface of something along which has split without breaking into separate parts. See picture below:

Besides, “crack” is also the drug that has been destroying a lot of families and those who have been smoking crack are labeled as “crackheads”.

Also, you can use the verb “crack up” which means laughing so hard because something is funny.

For example: The Movie Friday cracks me up! Every time we watch it, everybody cracks up!

Another meaning for “crack up” would be “to break” or “to destroy” something.

For example: Oh man! Who cracked my car up? or Who cracked up my car?

For further information on this phrasal verb, click on CRACK UP

But, on the T-shirt, the meaning is different: It means “happening” or “going on” or “going down” or “poppin”.

2. Brah – It is short for “brother” which does not necessarily mean that you are real brothers. You can be close friends. This reduction may vary “bro”, “bru”, “bruh” or “brotha”. When you have a friend that is like a brother, you can say that “he is my brother from another mother”.

The question “What’s cracken bro?” can also be seen as “What’s crackin’?” or “What’s crackinlackin’?” and they are usually used by teenagers and sometimes by gang members. Usually used by a gang called Crips (Community Resistence in Progress), which Snoop Dogg happens to be a member of, according to what he’s been saying.

Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent – Was it a beef? (Beef means fight or argument)

Watch it and see where and when Snoop Dogg said so:

Another video I have selected is this one below. It is meant for you to see a teenager using the expression in vogue. He seems to be a gang member, but I am not quite sure. What do you think? Is he a thug or just a wannabe?

Watch the videos below and try to figure out what they are talking about:

Well, enough information for you to understand the question on the T-shirt.

In conclusion: “What’s cracken brah?” means “What’s going on, brother?”

In Portuguese: “Quê que cê manda, irmão?” ou “Quê que tá pegando, mano?”

So, yeah, time to dash off. Do you know other ways to say “What’s cracken, bro?”
How do you say it in your language?

This material has been selected, analyzed, and put together by Rodrigo P. Honorato