The line comes from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, where Carl Johnson returns to Los Santos and is quickly pulled back into gang trouble. As clips from the game spread on YouTube and later TikTok, the short phrase became shorthand for a cycle starting over, often paired with footage of someone walking into a familiar mess. Its staying power comes from that simple, reusable setup: viewers do not need to know the game to understand the feeling of déjà vu it captures.