pitching

n. selling illegal drugs (on the street). Subjects: English, United States, Crime & Prisons, Drugs

Editorial Note: Transitive and intransitive. Etymological Note: Directly related to several long-standing meanings of to pitch, including ‘to place or lay out (wares) in a fixed place for sale’ and ‘to make a bid or offer for business.’

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Citations: 1989 Philippe Bourgois New York Times Mag. (Nov. 12) “Just Another Night On Crack Street” p. 53: Most likely a hail of whistles and shouts will accompany the stroller’s arrival as the lookouts warn those “pitching” the drugs that a potential undercover is on the scene. 2001 Kathryn Gordon Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Penn.) (Jan. 14) “Independence Mall Vigil for Peace Report #86”: The teens who leave, more often than not before they graduate, are like the unsafe factory walls, only instead of demolition the state remedy for them is prison, and instead of stray bricks to walk around on the sidewalks there are young men pitching crack or heroine, and young women selling what they have to sell in order to buy it. 2002 [Gotti Damu] The Infamous Freestyle Board (May 9) “B-day!”: I’m on da block and I’m constantlly pitching/see da jakes and I’m constantlly dippin. 2004 Matt Barone AllHipHop.com (July) “Tony Yayo: O.G. (Original Guerilla)”: All of that in one day, cuz there is no plan B for me man. If this rap s**t don’t work, I’m right back on the corner pitching rocks. *2004 [Siens] Simplyhood.com (East Walpole, Mass.) (Aug. 4) “Simply Hood”: I’m in the hood, man/pitching and bagging/and burning/exclusive tropic. *2004 Mike Z, Kash-Murda Official Site of All Money Is Legal (Dec. 24) “All Money is Legal interview With DOI questions”: If it wasn’t for that building out in Queens that had almost all the best eastcoast indy’s stars in it…I probably be working a good job or on the corner pitching to the pot heads! 2004 Ellis Close Newsweek (Dec. 27) “Does Cosby Help?”: April, a 16-year-old Latina from the Bronx, scoffed at the notion that poor mothers were buying $500 shoes. The only people she knew with such pricey sneakers were those “on the block pitching [dealing drugs].”

Posted 24 Dec 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend