Although the phrase has a long history of including a description portion (such as the old, mostly harmless insult "your mother wears combat boots"), the phrase "yo mama" by itself, without any qualifiers, has become commonly used as an all-purpose insult or an expression of defiance. The insult may fall flat if it is true and should be used with caution.

Although this may appear to be a recent phenomenon, one can find variants in classical literature.

William Shakespeare used such a device in Act I Scene 1 of Timon of Athens:

Painter: "Y'are a dog."Apemantus: "Thy mother's of my generation. What's she, if I be a dog?"

Also in Act IV, Scene II of Titus Andronicus, Aaron taunts his lover's sons:

Demetrius: "Villain, what hast thou done?"Aaron: "That which thou canst not undo."Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother."Aaron: "Villain, I have done thy mother."

"Your mother" jokes became common in North American pop culture in the early 1990s. The Pharcyde's 1992 song "Ya Mama" echoed it. Mexican film Y tu mamá también's title is an equivalent usage in Spanish ("and your mother too"). There is also a television show Yo Momma featuring contestants "playing the dozens". The Australian hiphop outfit Butterfingers released a song called "Yo Mama" that made number 17 on the 2004 Triple J Hottest 100.

In the early nineties, British comedy duo Newman and Baddiel of The Mary Whitehouse Experience added an extra layer of irony to the mother insult by using it extensively in their "History Today" routines in which two restrained elderly university professors debate history seriously until breaking into childish insults, often using the format "See that X? That's your mum that is."

The Saturday Night Live skit "I'm Chillin'" featured the "Mother Joke of the Day." Notable examples included: "Your mother's armpits are so hairy, it looks like she got Buckwheat in a headlock!" and "Your mother's so old, I told her to act her age and the bitch dropped dead!"