후드 밈
TL;DR · OriginThe "hood meme" in Korea refers to short clips of everyday life in low-income Black American neighborhoods — "the hood" — captioned in Korean. In practice the term is interch…
Origin
The "hood meme" in Korea refers to short clips of everyday life in low-income Black American neighborhoods — "the hood" — captioned in Korean. In practice the term is interchangeable with the title of the series that started it, "Surviving in the Hood."
Its source is the YouTube channel Hipple Meme (힙플밈). Hipple Meme is a sub-channel of the hip hop webzine HIPHOPLE, which posted overseas meme clips with Korean subtitles. Its upload "Surviving in the Hood, Chapter 1" began the series, and the rule given in Chapter 1 is "move unpredictably." The source clip shows a man squeezing toothpaste onto a toothbrush at a sink, dipping the brush in the toilet, and then wiping his own forehead with it — with nothing but that one caption over it.
The register of the caption is what makes it work. Numbered like a statute — "Chapter N" followed by a terse commandment — it presents the bizarre footage as an established item in a survival manual. The clip has no context at all while the caption is entirely straight-faced, and that gap is the joke.
Spread
The trend took off around June 2022. Carried by YouTube Shorts, it reached the point where "Surviving in the Hood, Chapter N" comments appeared under videos that had nothing to do with Hipple Meme, and the series made the channel itself widely known. The original clips were reposted to Korean communities such as Ruliweb, spreading it beyond YouTube.
Characteristically, the format outlived its link to the source. The "Chapter N" heading and commandment phrasing were attached to videos unrelated to the hood, until the phrase became a stock comment for any behavior that is bizarre and yet somehow persuasive.
How it is used
- Citing the Chapter 1 rule about someone who gets through a situation in an unpredictable way
- As a comment game: adding commandment-style captions to videos of inexplicable behavior
- As a joke used to justify one's own blindsiding choice
- As the modifier "hood-style," applied to reckless or audacious methods in general
Sources
- Namuwiki, "Hood meme" — the YouTube trend from around June 2022, Hipple Meme as its source, and the "Chapter N" format and the Chapter 1 rule
- Namuwiki, "Hipple Meme" — that the channel is a HIPHOPLE sub-channel posting translated overseas memes, and how the series made it famous
- Ruliweb humor board, "Surviving in the Hood, Chapter 1" — the source clip as reposted to a Korean community
