About

3 Stages of a Real Nigga refers to a series of memes based on an inspirational Hustle Culture macro depicting three stages on a road to success, with memes replacing the original images with various imagery. First used in memes in 2018, the meme format achieved larger popularity in 2020.

Origin

Prior to August 15th, 2016, an unknown user posted a three-panel inspirational macro "3 stages of a real nigga: struggle, grind, shine," illustrated with images of Paid in Full character Ace (portrayed by Wood Harris) during different stages of the film (shown below). On August 16th, the image, reposted by an unknown Instagram account, was archived by TinEye.^[1] In 2016 and the following years, more reposts were made by multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts made in 2016.^[2]

On November 18th, 2018, Facebook^[3] page Ace Gutta reposed the meme, with the post gaining over 120 reactions and 4,000 shares in two years. Between November 18th and 25th, an unknown page posted a meme in which the images of Ace were replaced by images of Ned Stark and Boromir, both portrayed by Sean Bean. On November 25th, 2018, Facebook^[4] page CTFU World reposted the meme, gaining over 350 reactions and 100 shares (shown below).

Spread

Prior to February 2020, the meme format saw limited spread online, mainly on Facebook and Reddit. For example, on December 4th, 2018, Facebook^[5] page Strikes ストライキ reposted an Avatar: The Last Airbender meme based on the template. On April 2nd, 2019, Redditor^[6] iDislikeSn0w reposted an ironic meme based on the format, gaining over 780 upvotes in /r/whothefuckup in six months (original author unknown; shown below).

In February 2020, following an online campaign in support of Quaden Bayles, an Australian child who became a victim of bullying due to his condition, a 3 Stages of a Real Nigga meme featuring Bayles gained viral spread online. For example, on February 22nd, 2020, Instagram^[7] user funsizedmemes reposted the meme, gaining over 6,200 likes in nine months (shown below).

Following the viral spread of the meme, the format gained a larger presence online, maintaining notable popularity through 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References