Thug life is a English expression meaning "bandit life", in the literal translation into Portuguese.
However, according to the creator of this expression, the American rapper Tupac Shakur, O Thug life it's a lifestyle of people who face a lot of adversity throughout life, but that never give up fighting for their goals and dreams.
From this ideal, Tupac created a social movement that became known as Thug Life, which had as main objective to ensure that there was a "code of conduct and respect" between criminals and communities.
However, this expression, which was created in the 1990s, became popular mainly among American gangsters and mobsters, distorting the meaning that Tupac Shakur defended.
Find out more about the meaning of gangster.
Currently, the Thug life it is seen as a lifestyle, which ranges from musical style to fashion, creating a particular stereotype for the members of this “community”.
Among some typical characteristics of individuals who call themselves "thuglife”, is the taste for
hip hop and rap music, musical styles that show the so-called “bandit life” and the difficulties found in the streets and slums, for example.On the internet, the expression Thug life it also became a meme, with rapper Tupac Shakur's famous phrase about the explanation of the concept of Thug life: “I didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose me” (“I did not choose the criminal life, the criminal life that chose me”, in free translation).
This sentence, then, is placed in photos and images that show people with the totally opposite stereotype of the Thug life.
Learn more about the meaning of meme.