roll deep

English

Verb

roll deep (third-person singular simple present rolls deep, present participle rolling deep, simple past and past participle rolled deep)

1. (slang) To travel in a group.
   • 1992 November 17, Ice Cube (lyrics and music), “When Will They Shoot?” (track 2), in The Predator:

     When I roll, I gots to roll deep

   • 2006 June 17, Brenda Goodman, “A Hard Core, Hip-Hop Spiritual Journey”, in The New York Times:

     "When you go to the club, Atlanta, roll deep," he said, advising his listeners to travel in packs. "That way, people won't be ready to start some drama with you if you've got some homies around. […] "

   • 2019 May 17, Amy Kaufman, “Tilda Swinton is back at Cannes and optimistic about the future”, in Los Angeles Times:

     It was 1987, and she’d come to the international film festival for the first time as part of the ensemble cast of “Aria,” an anthology of 10 short films set to operatic music. The piece she was in had been directed by Derek Jarman, and the others were directed by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Bruce Beresford and Robert Altman. In other words: They were rolling deep. Or as the actress likes to say: carousing.

Usage notes

1. Sometimes, a number appears between "roll" and "deep". For example, to roll 20 deep means to travel in a group of 20.
   • 2003 January 7, Ice Cube (lyrics and music), “In da Club” (track 5), in Get Rich or Die Tryin':

     When I roll twenty deep, it's twenty nines in the club

Anagrams

• repolled