Slang "kickin' it" (= "chillin'")

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

    Today I was watching the TV show, Judge Judy, and she asked the defendant what he was doing at a friend's house.  He said softly: "Chillin'."  The judge didn't understand, and so he explained a bit louder, "chillin," "kickin' it."  She later picked up on both his use of "chillin'" and "kickin' it."

     "Kickin' it" ( = "chillin'") is new to me.  What is its original reference?  I.e., what is being figuratively kicked here?  And does this expression appear in any dictionaries of slang?

Gerald Cohen

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