The phrase thug life was popularised in the 1990s by Tupac Shakur, but the meme format took off on YouTube in the mid 2010s through short compilation edits. A clip would build up an ordinary line or action, freeze, add black and white grading and falling sunglasses, then play this confident hip hop sting. The format spread to Vine, Facebook and later TikTok as a universal reaction to cocky wins, and it remains shorthand for acting cooler than the situation deserves.