Balla, one of Detroit's favorite slang terms!

Used to describe a person that has a lot of money and shows it off by the car that they drive, the clothes that they wear, and the extravagances that they purchase and flaunt.  They often wear expensive jewelry as well.

Ramon: “Yo dog, check out that balla.”

James: “C’mon, let’s jack that nigga.”

or

Ramon: “You see JJ?”

James: “I ain’t seen JJ for a minute.”

Ramon: “He got a job with a fat check.  He a big ass balla now.”

“Balla”, or “baller”,  is derived from people living in inner cities and making it big by often getting into professional sports.  People who have made a drastic life change by playing professional sports have gone from poverty to being a millionaire.  Because most professional sports use a ball, the term “baller” was coined to represent them.  It has since turned into a way to state that someone is wealthy.

It is also used in a variety of hip hop or rap music.  One example is Lil’ Troy’s “Wanna Be a Baller”.