Again, thug become associated with black people because rap stars would refer to them in that way in the early 90s
The word thug took on a racialized subtext in the latter half of the 20th century, especially for impoverished black people living in urban communities, regardless of whether these people engaged in criminal behavior or not. According to African American Studies professor Michael Jeffries, this connection between being black and being a thug rose particularly during the same era in which mass incarceration rose to record levels. These communities started reclaiming the word thug as a countercultural rebellion against racism, adopting the term as a form of self-empowerment and protest. The term was popularized in hip-hop culture, where thug life goes hand-in-hand with iconic rapper Tupac Shakur, or 2Pac. In 1993, Shakur joined with friends Big Syke, the Rated R, Mopreme Shakur, and Macadoshis to form the group Thug Life, who released a now certified Gold album, Thug Life: Volume 1 in 1994.
Lol you say it's because of rap stars when your own posts says it was already associated with black people in a racist way and they tried to reclaim it