Smoking On That X Pack

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About

Smoking On That X Pack, or Smoking That Tooka Pack, is a snowclone and catchphrase used to disrespect someone, typically a dead person. The phrase is an evolution of "smoking that opp pack," a less-incriminating way of saying you're killing your opposers, which began in the Chicago drill rap scene, with an "opp" being an opposer, "smoking" someone meaning to kill them and a "pack" being the body. The phrase started growing in popularity online around 2018 as a disrespectful reaction to the death, cancelation or incarceration of newsworthy figures. Alternatively, "smoking that Tooka pack" is used to describe smoking strong marijuana.

Origin

Smoking That Tooka Pack

The exact origins of "smoking a pack" as a term of disrespect are unknown and debated, but rose in the Chicago drill rap scene after the death of Tooka Gregory.

On January 12th, 2011, Tooka Gregory, a member of the Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, an opposing gang to Chief Keef's Black Disciples, was shot and killed by Keef's gang while waiting for a bus.^[13] The event inspired numerous drill rappers on gangs opposing Tooka's to disrespect the deceased rapper in their songs, including the 2013 RandoNumbaNine track "Hang With Me"^[1] and the 2015 Chief Keef track "Off The Tooka" (shown below, left and right). The phrase "smoking a Tooka pack" became commonly used by gang members to indirectly reference killing him, making him one of the most disrespected names in hip-hop.

I'm smoking on the Tooka pack, yeah I'm high as shit
Got the fuckin' 50 and the Mac, I will wet you quick.

Spread

Variations of the phrase "Smoking on that X pack" spread slowly across social media over the course of the mid-2010s, gaining in popularity as 2020 neared. The phrase is often used in reference to potent marijuana, particularly the "Tooka Pack" variant, and sometimes as a term of respect, likely due to users not knowing or intentionally ignoring the original context (examples from 2018 and 2019 shown below).

We Smoking On That Ethan Pack

On June 18th, 2020, social media influencer and makeup guru Ethanisupreme tweeted,^[2] "I hope XXXTENTACTION is having fun in hell," following the death of the rapper, garnering over 800 likes and 1,500 quote retweets, many criticizing the influencer for their opinion (shown below).

On September 6th, Ethanisupreme passed away at the age of 17 due to a drug overdose.^[3] On that day, Twitter users began flooding the three-month-old tweet with comments disrespecting the influencer's death, many using the phrase "RIP Bozo" and "smoking that Ethan pack" to celebrate his death (examples shown below).

On September 12th, YouTuber^[4] luci posted a video collecting various related "smoking that Ethan pack" and "RIP Bozo" memes, garnering over 6,900 views in seven months (shown below). The incident greatly helped spread each phrase, as well as combined the two.

Death of King Von

On November 6th, 2020, rapper King Von, who has disrespected Tooka and rapped about smoking the Tooka pack a number of times in songs, was shot and killed by members of an opposing gang.^[5] This happened shortly after releasing the song "All These Niggas," in which Von raps, "Tooka in my lung, I say that everytime, 'cause he got smoked (He got smoked)." Sometime prior to his death, Von went on Instagram Live and tried to explain how Tooka is slang for powerful marijuana, an explanation which many called out as an excuse (shown below, re-uploaded to YouTube).

Searches for "Tooka Pack" spiked in August 2020 and again in November following the rapper's death according to Google Trends^[6] data. Following his death, members of rapper NBA Youngboy's crew, known to be in opposition of Von's, went on Instagram live and said they were "smoking on that Von pack," which some took as an admission that they killed Von. On November 7th, YouTuber^[10] Reaction Vlogs posted the clip as well as other collected evidence towards who the shooter might be (shown below).

This inspired some to tweet "smoking on that Von pack" to disrespect the rapper, a trend which was criticized in a number of posts^[8]^[9] on social media by mocking the type of person they assumed to be making the posts (examples shown below).

We Smoking On That Derek Chauvin Pack

On April 20th, 2021, the results of the trial dealing in the death of George Floyd were announced, finding the accused police officer Derek Chauvin guilty.^[7] Many saw this as positive news, which, in combination with the fact that April 20th is also a day popular for celebrating marijuana, inspired a number of users to tweet about "smoking the Derek Chauvin pack" in celebration of his guilt.

For example, on that day, rapper Meek Mill tweeted,^[11] "Y’all smoking on the Derek chauvin pack for 4/20 or nah???" garnering over 38,400 likes and 7,300 retweets a day. On the same day, Twitter^[12] user @Sadcrib tweeted, "Smoking tf outta this Derek Chauvin pack" garnering over 7,700 likes and 800 retweets in the same span of time (shown below).

RIP Bozo

RIP Bozo is a phrase used online to celebrate a person's death, deeming them a "bozo," commonly defined as someone who is insignificant and stupid or a "clown." The phrase first appeared on Instagram in 2015 as the hashtag #RipBozo, becoming associated with a reaction video of NBA commentator James Worthy smoking a cigar alongside text reading "#PACKWATCH" (shown below).

The hashtag "#packwatch" is a direct reference to "smoking on a pack," used to signal a "pack."