"The Real Sugar Baby" is an obscure meme based on the real life song of the same name, usually involving cutesy cartoon or anime characters "singing" to it. After a slow start in 2006, it eventually caught on in the years following, spanning through multiple fandoms.

Origin

The song itself, a parody of Eminem's hit "The Real Slim Shady", was performed by Canadian actress Stephanie Beard, under the alias Sugar Lyn Beard. It was originally performed in 2001 as a sketch on the Canadian television channel YTV during their programming block The Zone, where she was a co-host at the time. It's not known if the original footage still exists aside from the proof given by various sources.

One of the earliest known usages of the song in the context of this meme dates back to April 2006. The video features Rini (Chibiusa) of Sailor Moon. The clips are edited together to make it seem like she's singing the song. This video, made by user nikoreangel, currently sits at over 23,000 views.

Spread

In the following years, several more parodies continued to appear.

To name a few, a video by Kaomixian that features Bu-Ling Huang (Pudding) of Tokyo Mew Mew was released in July 2006 and sits at over 66,000 views. A video by Kimico93 featuring Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender was released in late 2007 and sits at over 233,000 views. Another video by w13WFang featuring Darla Dimple of Cats Don't Dance was released in mid 2012, gaining over 140,000 views.

A number of them focus on Rini/Chibiusa from Sailor Moon. This particular video differs from most of its kind, as it is a slideshow tribute to Rini (aka Chibiusa). Coincidently, the original English dub had Rini voiced by Beard. It was created by MidnightMewMew.