Origin. San Andreas came out on PlayStation 2 on 26 October 2004 and introduced a Respect stat that grows as CJ completes missions. The pop-up and its jingle stuck. By the mid-2010s Vine creators ended clips of everyday wins with the screen, and a YouTube compilation of those Vines uploaded on 19 September 2016 passed 8.6 million views.
How people use it. The sound and the words play right after someone pulls off something mildly impressive. Know Your Meme still has no entry for it, so its history lives in YouTube compilations and sound boards.
Example. A cat lands a jump onto the kitchen counter on the first try, and the jingle plays as "Respect +" appears.
Sources
- 1 YouTube: GTA San Andreas Respect Meme Vine Compilation (19 September 2016) youtube.com
- 2 Wikipedia: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas en.wikipedia.org