Nothin' But The Rent Edit Meaning

1.

Originally (early 70s or so), a standard cliched response to the question "What's up?". Then, in the late 80s/early 90s, a new generation misunderstood the origin of the response so that it soon became the standard reply to similar questions, such as "How ya doin'?" or "What's goin' on?"

Original:

Dude 1: What's up, man?

Dude 2: You know, nothin' but the rent.

Later:

Dude 1: Hey, man, how you doin'?

Dude 2: Aw, nothin' but the rent, man.