Thug Life

Editor's Note: this entry contains videos that heavily feature expletive language.

About

Thug Life Remixes are a series of YouTube videos that typically begin with home movies of preadolescents using overly confrontational or expletive language, followed by a freeze-frame at a close-up image of the subject and an instrumental fade out to Dr. Dre's 1999 gangsta rap song "The Next Episode."

Origin

On January 23rd, 2013, YouTuber Otis Anderson posted an edited clip from the Penn and Teller show Bull Shit featuring the 2003 rap song "Where the Hood At" by DMX with a gray fade out (shown below, left). The video was the original precursor, to the more popular "I'll kill your dog" rendition that followed a similar pattern (shown below, right).

The formulaic set-up of the thug life remixes also bears resemblance to "How to Shut Down a Ho" remixes, another series of remix videos that open with a verbal insult or a punchline quoted from a popular film or television show before suddenly cutting to a scene of a crowd's wild reaction to the said line.

Spread

On June 13th, 2014, YouTuber lolonym uploaded a video titled "Thug Life (nerf gun review)," in which a young boy opens up a monologue of a NERF toy gun review, before he trails off and says "I don't know what it's called… maybe it's called fuck you" (shown below). On July 20th, Redditor Russian_For_Rent submitted the clip to /r/videos in a post^[3] titled "my favorite video on the internet as of now," which garnered more than 2,344 points prior to its archival.

The Thug Life meme reached the peak of its popularity in February of 2015 and has been slowly declining since.

On October 3rd, 2014, the video remix fad really took off with a video submitted^[2] by Redditor Daco-roman to /r/videos, which shows another young boy talking back in expletives after being teased for struggling to tie his shoes (shown below).

In five days, the post accumulated more than 3,779 points (91% upvotes) and over a dozen of other similar videos of foul-mouthed kids in the comments section. That same day, Redditor imnotregolas launched the /r/UnexpectedThugLife subreddit^[1] to showcase the videos, which drew more than 15,000 subscribers within the first 72 hours.

Thug Life Meme

"I didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose me" is a catchphrase used to express one’s pride in living the thug lifestyle, a concept that is typically referenced in hip hop music, particularly in gangsta rap. Although rooted in hip hop, the phrase or its snowclone variation is often paired with various images depicting White suburban stereotypes, similar to the usage of other hip hop references like swag and haters gonna hate.

Notable Examples

External References