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A hooptie is typically a large car popular with the "gangsta" and hip-hop culture. The cars are usually old 1970s or 1980s model cars outfitted with hydraulics or other "gangsta" apparel (Houston rapper Paul Wall refers to these vehicles as slabs - usually Cadillacs).

More recently, hoopties have moved along with the spinner (wheel) fad. Hoopties are popular in movies that seriously portray life in the ghetto and movies that poke fun at various people of other races acting as if they were blacks in the ghetto.

Usually, Buick Electras were common as entry-level hoopties (in response to Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1990 hit "My Hooptie"); usual hoopties include beaters covered with house paint or rust buckets.

Hoopties have several meanings in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, and New York City. For example, the Miami scene emphasizes on 1971-76 Chevrolet Impalas, while in Houston, the 'slabs' refer to any pre-1980 General Motors luxury car regardless of the division. In the Houston Metro area, hoopties with the elbow rims (common to 1983 and 1984 Cadillacs) are a rare find.

The term may be related to a much earlier usage (1930's-1940's) for an old or beat-up car, "hoopie" or "hoopy", in the Southwest and California.