I Live In a Low Income Housing Environment That Goes by the Government Name of Section 8

About

I Live In a Low Income Housing Environment That Goes by the Government Name of Section 8, continued Me and a Group of My Allies Control Areas of This Section In Order to Run Our Illegitimate Business, refers to a copypasta that originates from a male narrator who's speaking about illegal gang activity in a verbose manner. The original video was posted by TikToker @prodbeef sometime in late 2020. The copypasta and usage of the text-to-speech audio quickly spread across YouTube and Instagram, as well as TikTok.

Origin

Sometime in late 2020, TikToker^[10] @prodbeef posted the original video with the text-to-speech voice. It has since been deleted. The first repost of the video was uploaded by YouTuber^[1] Caffeine Father on December 14th, 2020. Over the course of three years, the video gained roughly 28,700 views and 2,300 likes. However, a full-length version of @prodbeef's original TikTok was posted by YouTuber^[11] Inkutokage on July 4th, 2023, in which there is an intro before the "I live in a low income housing environment" section starts (shown below).

The copypasta itself reads:

I live in a low income housing environment that goes by the government name of "Section 8." Me and a group of my allies control certain areas of this section in order to run our illegitimate business. We possess unregistered firearms, stolen vehicles, mind-altering inhibitors and only use cash for financial purchases. If anyone would like to settle unfinished altercations, I will be more than happy to release my address. I would like to warn you; I am a very dangerous person and I regularly disobey the law.

Spread

On December 15th, 2020, a 4chan user posted the copypasta to /r9k/.^[2] On December 16th, the copypasta first surfaced on Twitter.^[3] Going into early 2021, the male narrator's voice gained more usage. For instance, on January 2nd, 2021, YouTuber^[4] Brian posted a moldy Minecraft video that added the audio, gaining roughly 225,900 views and 26,000 likes (since deleted). On June 4th, 2021, YouTuber^[5] Brian posted another Minecraft iteration, gaining roughly 60,300 plays and 6,100 likes in two years (shown below).

The meme gained a resurgence on TikTok roughly two years later, in early 2023. This predominantly started on January 5th, 2023, when TikToker^[6] @johnathanpeychev posted a video similar to the original video, gaining roughly 947,600 plays and 201,700 likes in six months (shown below, left). On January 30th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @palelyca posted an iteration using clips from Azumanga Daioh, gaining roughly 301,000 plays and 55,100 likes in six months (shown below, right).

The meme then spread back to YouTube^[8][9] going into mid-2023.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References