The chant comes from Ninja Rap, written and performed by Vanilla Ice for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991, where he performs it during the climactic club fight scene. The go ninja refrain became the film's most quoted musical moment and kept circulating through nineties reruns, Turtle fandom and later meme edits. Its simple repetition makes it instantly recognisable even out of context, so creators reuse it whenever a character needs a cheesy, confident, early nineties entrance.