Sigma Grindset / Hustle Culture Memes

About

Sigma Male Grindset or Hustle Culture Memes refers to a series of memes that both parody and support motivational memes which promote self-improvement and focus on entrepreneurship, usually at the cost of maintaining an active social life or spending time on leisure. The image macros frequently feature images of wealthy, successful men, typically celebrities or models in expensive suits, while sharing business and personal advice. Starting mid-2020, memes parodying these types of motivational posts gained notable popularity with formats such as If You're 20-30 and Your Main Circle Isn't Discussing, with jokes about Sigma Male Grindset achieving significant popularity in June 2021.

Origin

Elements of hustle culture, as it existed in the 2000s, can be found throughout culture, particularly in satires of 80s stock market culture such as the 1987 Oliver Stone film Wall Street^[1] and Mary Harron's adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis' 80s satire American Psycho.^[2] The characters in these films place great importance and value on appearance and wealth, which are the focus of modern Hustle Culture memes.

The 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street,^[9] based on the 2007 memoir by motivational speaker, former stockbroker and convicted felon Jordan Belfort, is an example of media that played a major part in popularization of hustle culture, with image macros featuring Leonardo Di Caprio as Jordan Belfort frequently used in hustle culture memes.

On October 14th, 2009, Harper Collins published the self-help book Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk.^[3] The New York Times^[4] referred to the author as "the patron saint of hustling." The book's description reads, "By the end of this book, readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true."

Spread

Over the 2010s, a number of popular cultural figures would come to imbue the entrepreneurial spirit of Hustle Culture, including Jordan Belfort, Elon Musk and the Marvel character Tony Stark. Memes about these characters tend to showcase their independent motivations and business acumen (example below). Such non-ironic memes are designed strictly for motivational purposes, offering advice to viewers.

In the late 2010s, multiple business-themed Instagram accounts and Facebook pages launched, posting memes that offer sincere motivational advice and demonstrate aspirational lifestyle. For example, on December 27th, 2017, Instagram^[5] account @successowner posted their first meme, a photo of a man and woman kissing with the caption, "When you find someone who makes you feel the same way music does, that's when you found someone special." The post received more than 10,000 likes in less than four years (shown below, left).

The next few years saw an increase in these types of accounts, such as @entrepreneurshipfacts,^[6] @billionaire_word^[7] and @billionairebullclub^[8] (meme examples below, center and right).

On April 22nd, 2019, YouTuber Danny Gonzalez published a video entitled "Insane Motivational Memes for Guys." In the video, Gonzalez mocks the culture of aspirational and motivational quotes and images. The post received more than 3.6 million views in less than two years (shown below).

In February 2020 (earlier examples exist), meme format 3 Stages of a Real Nigga based on a 2016 inspirational macro became the first popular meme format reimagining hustle culture memes (original macro and a popular version^[10] featuring Quaden Bayles shown below, left and right).

The widespread popularization of ironic hustle culture memes follows a June 17th, 2020, post by self-motivation Twitter account The Wealth Dad (shown below, left) that was later reused in image macros by hustle culture pages on Instagram and Facebook. The format did not gain popularity until November 12th, 2020, when an unknown page posted the first known meme, which used an image macro posted by Instagram account financefact as a template. On that day, iFunny^[11][12] users Ephemeral and denverh reposted the meme (shown below, right), with the image achieving viral spread in mid-December 2020 with more reposts.^[13][14]

In 2021, memes parodying aspirational hustle culture content grew in popularity online. On February 16th, 2021, for example, Redditor misterpoopybutthole5 published a parody of a @billionarie_word post in the /r/okbuddyretards subreddit, which received more than 10,000 points (99% upvoted) and 70 comments in less than one month (shown below, left).

Many of thee memes use images found in earnest motivational memes, including those of entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk and Elon Musk (examples below, center and right_.

Sigma Male Grindset / Trillionaire Grindset

On March 6th 2021, following the popularization of both Sigma Male memes and hustle culture memes, Instagram^[15][16] page verywokeindeed started posting ironic motivational "Trillionaire Grindset" videos based on clips from American Psycho and other films set to "Drive Forever" by Sergio Valentino (which is an instrumental cover of "Polozhenie" by Kazakh rapper and beatmaker Skriptonite) as an accompanying song, as well as ironic image macros. In some examples, imagined dialogues and thought processes of alpha, beta and sigma males were added, with the first such meme,^[17] an American Psycho edit, posted on March 19th.

The videos received viral spread online, with other users on Instagram posting their own video and image macro versions (examples shown below, left and right).

In June 2021, the format gained further popularity following a viral June 15th post by Twitter^[18] account @profitwithant.

Related Memes

I Bought the Bank

[Work in progress]

Sigma Males

Sigma Males refers to a supposed classification for men who are successful and popular, but also silent and rebellious, a type of man who likes to "play by his own rules." In most analyses, they are considered "equal" to Alphas on the hierarchy but live outside of the hierarchy by choice. John Wick has often been cited as a popular example of a Sigma Male. After the discovery of the classification was discovered by Twitter user @LilySimpson1312, it was mocked online by people expressing distaste for the Greek alphabet system of male classification.

If You're 20-30 and Your Main Circle Isn't Discussing

If You're 20-30 and Your Main Circle Isn't Discussing refers to a series of memes which parody a popular Hustle Culture image macro about elevating one's social circle. In June 2020, the original post was parodied on Twitter, while image macros posted by various self-motivation accounts in the following months found use as source material for memes.

Let's Get This Bread

Let's Get This Bread is a slang expression for earning money. Online, people use the expression ironically, mocking sincere desires to earn lots of money and work hard.

3 Stages of a Real Nigga

3 Stages of a Real Nigga refers to a series of memes based on an inspirational Hustle Culture macro depicting three stages on a road to success, with memes replacing the original images with various imagery. First used in memes in 2018, the meme format achieved larger popularity in 2020.

We Are Not the Same

We Are Not the Same is a catchphrase which grew popular on Twitter in the fall of 2019. The catchphrase has been used in memes that parody self-aggrandizing comparisons such as "You pray for me to fall, I pray for you to get back up. We are not the same." The parodies often end with a self-deprecating punchline. In 2021, the format regained popularity with ironic image macros featuring actors Giancarlo Esposito and Mads Mikkelsen following a viral Gamer Joker meme posted in May 2021.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References