Jugging / Jugg

Submission 1,236

Part of a series on AAVE / African American Vernacular English. [View Related Entries]

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About

Jugging and Jugg is a slang term for stealing. It most often means a type of robbery in which the criminal follows the victim after they withdraw money from an ATM. Jugging is a piece of AAVE slang originally used in hip-hop and rap songs from the 2010s and 2020s. In 2024, use of the term Jugging went viral on TikTok across multiple memes, like I Will Not Jugg In Class. The slang term was often combined with other then-trending AAVE words on TikTok like Huzz and Fine Shyt. Jugg was likened to Brainrot slang because of its frequent use on TikTok in Hood Irony posts.

Origin

Use of Jugging dates back to non-viral tweets^[1]^[2] from 2009. The term was first added to the Urban Dictionary^[3] on November 17th, 2012, by user jesserivers who defined it as, "To steal or rob." The user also said that the term originated from Atlanta, Georgia. Over 12 years, the definition received over 960 likes (shown below).

Predominantly starting in 2013, famous rappers began saying Jugging in their lyrics. For instance, an early example is the song "Juugin Round the City" by Atlanta rapper Yung Ralph, featuring fellow Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan, which was released on March 6th, 2013.^[4] Jugging is alternatively spelled "Juugin" in the song's title.

Spread

Later in 2013, late South Carolina rapper Speaker Knockerz referenced Jugging in his songs "Rico Story" and "Lonely," among others.^[5]^[6] Going into the late 2010s, various rappers referenced Jugging on viral tracks, such as ILoveMakkonen's 2014 song "Tuesday" and Kevin Gates' 2015 song "2 Phones."^[7]^[8]

On September 25th, 2015, New Jersey rapper Fetty Wap dropped the track "Jugg" (shown below) on his self-titled album that included other tracks like "Trap Queen."^[9]

Memetic usage of Jugging began surfacing in the late 2010s, evident in a tweet shared by X^[10] user @KevinKazi on July 13th, 2017, which parodied XXXTentacion's XXL Cypher, reading, "Clout will be plentiful, SoundCloud will be bountiful, I will jugg all of you peasants," receiving over 1,500 likes in seven years (shown below).

In 2024, viral posts about Jugging surfaced on TikTok. For instance, on October 26th, TikToker^[11] @i_.hatety posted a video of the I Will Not Jugg In Class meme drawn in their notebook without the source image visible. The video's caption referenced the My Coworker Be Losing His Mind Bro meme. Over 13 days, it received over 62,100 plays and 12,000 likes (shown below).

The popularity of the I Will Not Jugg In Class meme inspired viral usage of Jugg in the following months. For instance, on November 12th, TikToker^[12] @curryfeetlicker23 posted a video that referenced Jugg and other trending slang terms like Bruzz, gaining over 195,700 plays and 45,500 likes in six days (shown below).