The Greatest Thug Life Remixes of All Time

When this NERF toy gun review, mashed up with Dre and Snoop’s “Nuthin’ But a G Thang,” hit YouTube on June 13th, 2014, it birthed the Thug Life (sometimes spelled “Thug Lyfe”) genre, and set the original formula in place.

Original videos would feature kids using strong language or otherwise acting in a surprisingly confrontational manner, and the remixers would add in the 1992 Death Row classic.

More examples followed.

But as with all long-running memes, a little variation becomes necessary to keep things fresh. So later Thug Life remixes feature a variety of age groups (even species), and a wide range of musical selections (though always standards of the gangsta rap genre.)

Below, find more of our favorite-ever examples of the Thug Life Remix trend.

In this clip from the regrettable TLC “reality” series “Geek Love,” a mother escorts her daughter and a bearded gentlesir to Comic-Con with delightful results. A great example of the use of the classic Dre and Snoop track that started it all.

“Just for Laughs: Gags” is a YouTube channel from Quebec that pulls silly pranks. This time, they had a lady at a bar send a nearby guy a beer, only to re-send the beer to a different, cuter guy who is obviously a plant. But then when plant guy turns out to be gay (ba-zing!), she sends the beer back to the original sucker. I mean, I mean mark. Sorry.

Anyway, his reaction is totally priceless which is why this is a classic of the Thug Remix genre.

Thank you, Weed Jesus! (This beautiful moment was originally captured by the whatever channel while filming the Fly Away Baby prank. Click there for the original.)

This one features two amazing additions to the Thug Remix canon – Tupac songs and unintentionally badass animal friends. Look for lots more of both as the list goes on.

Obama’s oft-quoted rejoinder to Republicans applauding that he has “no more campaigns to run” meets Dre and Snoop’s “The Next Episode” in this recent entry.

See what I mean about the dogs?

“You Ain’t Nothing” is a relative oddity in the Thug Remix collective, because it features the subject attempting to act thuggish, but actually proving himself cowardly. Still, the original is so amusing, it almost DEMANDS the remix treatment.

Don’t mess with Kathy Lee. She’s not HAVING it. The song, for the curious, is “Hoo Banging,” from the Westside Connection.

Hard to lock down certain confirmation on where this 2011 footage comes from. (Huffington Post’s best guess is Eastern Europe.) The song, though, we can say with a good deal of certainty is Tupac’s “Ambitionz az a Ridah.”

This vintage street interview concludes with an older woman talking about getting laid. Obviously, it’s improved by the addition of Tupac’s “Only God Can Judge Me.”

This classic clip from the Richard Dawson era of “Family Feud” is probably my single favorite video on this entire list, and definitely one that captures that “unexpected thug” element.

Jennifer Garner attempts to correct Conan on his use of the term “snuck,” only to be overruled by the dictionary. This sets the stage for an exceeding rare double-thug!

Professional video gaming. Dre and Snoop. Social awkwardness. This clip has it all!

Back in November of 2010, during a discussion on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” about Prop 19, which would legalize pot in the state of California, comedian Zach Galifianakis took out what looked like a joint on air and proceeded to smoke it.

HBO and Maher later confirmed it was a clove cigarette, not a real joint, and just a joke. But if you just squint your eyes a little bit, and believe really hard, anything is possible.

No real explanation needed here. Mom gets hit with a sword. Everyone laughs.

This week’s highly-touted New York blizzard allowed these jokesters to pull a sick snow drift right behind a news reporter. So of course there’s already been a Thug Life Remix. Was this the video that inspired this entire list? Who can say? (Yes. Yes it was.)

Three more celebrity clips to finish off the list. Here’s Stephen Hawking explaining the Theory of Sick Burns to John Oliver, Bill Gates proving to Connie Chung that he can leap over a chair and Mr. Rogers giving a bunch of kids the middle finger for no clear reason. Enjoy!