About

So Hardcore is a catchphrase used to sarcastically react to another's actions, which the poster framed as being intense or experienced. The phrase was commonly used in Rage Comics Forever Alone image macro memes.

Origin

The phrase likely predates its internet usage as a means of qualifying or commenting on another's actions, sarcastically responding to another's attempts to appear passionate about their actions or brag about how intense they took an action. On September 23rd, 1997, rapper Busta Rhymes released the album When Disaster Strikes…, which featured the song "So Hardcore."^[1] The song uses the expression to exemplify intensity, with the lyrics "So hardcore like Quickdraw McGraw / Fuck what you heard, you ain't heard this before" (shown below, left).

On November 1st, 2011, Blogspot^[2] user benmarvin shared the earliest available version of the Rage Comics (shown below, right).

Spread

Throughout the remainder of 2011, the meme continued to spread around the internet. On November 10th, 2011, FunnyJunk ^[3] user xxspoonxx posted the image in response to an image of a person pretending smoke a packet of Mentos candies (shown below, left). The post received more than 355 upvotes in less than 10 years.

The following year, the meme persisted as a reaction to other comments. For example, on May 6th, 2012, MinecraftForum.net ^[4] user Peavler posted in the thread "Have you ever stayed up late to play minecraft past your bedtime?" They posted the image with the caption, "So you're telling me you actually defied your parents and stayed up passed your BEDTIME!?" (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References