It Be Ya Own Niggas

Confirmed 68,475

Part of a series on Black Twitter. [View Related Entries]

About

It Be Ya Own Niggas is a catchphrase used to express feelings of betrayal by a friend. It is commonly used online as a the caption to a picture that could be interpreted as depicting disloyalty.

Origin

The earliest known usage of the phrase comes from the album Raw and Uncut by the rapper Turk, which was released on October 21st, 2003. During the outro of the song "Letter from This World," Turk begins to rant about being betrayed by friends who turned him into the cops. He says:^[1]

Ain't this cold, these niggas ain't silent no more
They be 'round FEDs, ya heard me
It be ya own niggas, ya heard me
Gotta watch these niggas, ya heard me
Niggas'll turn state, ya heard me
They ain't 'bout doin no time
They shouldn't do no crime, ya heard me
You understand, I'ma take my lick
You understand, nigga talkin 'bout he gon' be silent"

Spread

Seven years later, the phrase began being used on Twitter, where it would come to prominence in the Black Twitter community. On January 10th, 2010, Twitter user @DecVeryOwnShari tweeted, "It be you OWN NIGGAS," making the known usage on the site.

The phrase would be use sporadically on Twitter over the seven years. However, on May 19th, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @ShenaeCurry retweeted a Barstool Sports tweet that reads "11 year old kid calls the cops on his dad because he found grugs." The user added the comment, "It be your own niggas. Smh." The post (shown below, center) received more than 2,800 retweets and 2,900 likes in seven months.

The following month, Imgur ^[5] user iDarkend posted a series of photographs of Disney Goofy and Minnie Mouse kissing unaware that Mickey Mouse is watching them. The post (shown below, center) received more than 3,500 views in less than one year.

Later that year, Twitter^[4] user @lordflaconegro tweeted a picture of actor Leonardo DiCaprio as a teenager holding a teddy bear juxatposed against a picture of him being attacked by a bear in the film The Revenant. They captioned the post "It be your own niggas." The post (shown below, right) received more than 54,000 retweets and 129,000 likes in two months.

On December 6th, 2017, Redditor ^[6] BigPoppaCharan posted a tweet of Barney from the animated sitcom The Simpsons pointing a gun at himself. They posted the tweet in the /r/BlackPeopleTwitter subreddit with the comment "It be ya own niggas," received more than 4,700 points (97% upvoted) in less than two weeks.