Phonk grew out of Memphis rap influences and became a staple of short-form video in the early 2020s, when its dark, bass-heavy sound was paired with drift, gym and meme edits on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. The Gigachad image, a hyper-masculine meme figure used to represent extreme confidence, became a natural match for that sound. Clips combining the two spread as a shorthand for unbothered swagger, and creators still reuse them because the pairing instantly tells viewers that a moment is meant to feel powerful, cool and deliberately over the top.