Arts & CultureCultural AffairsFebruaryMagazine

Young Aussie and Memes: A conversation with a guy who runs a rap meme page lmao

As Skype was ringing on my phone, I scrolled through a Facebook page littered with low-res JPEGs, semi-ironic statuses, and crudely drawn images. Finally, an Australian accent came through the speaker.

“So, you gonna ask me some questions about memes and shit?”

At this point in our civilization, everyone knows about memes. Your timeline is 95 per cent hooded Kermits and crying Jordans, local news stations’ air memorials for gorillas in place of actual stories, and countries overwhelmingly elect walking, talking memes into political office. What were once reserved for red-eyed Redditers, and trolling teenagers on /b/ are now the foundation of your favourite corrupt corporation’s latest hundred million dollar marketing scheme. But what your tag-happy mother doesn’t know is where memes come from. Well, in the case of one Facebook page (that decorates my feed daily with pictures and statuses about rap music), the source is a 16-year-old from Australia named Daniel.

“I’m going into grade 12 this year, I think I made a status ages ago that was like ‘I’m 16, white, and nothing I say has any relevancy, so if people get offended by my opinion I don’t know.’”

Daniel (whose Skype name is unsurprisingly MEME MEME) is a creator and moderator for Edgy Sh¡tposting About Hip Hop Music, a Facebook page dedicated to memes about rap music, rappers, and rap culture. Their profile picture is of Detroit emcee Danny Brown looking hella fucked up and reads “Daddy Brown.” As of January 27, his page has 18,211 likes.

“I started (the page) because I always had these thoughts, like even if it was funny or not, to say shit about hip hop,” Daniel says. “I was going to put it on my Facebook for my friends, but I knew only four people are going to care, and if I post more, the same four people will care. So I started Edgy Sh¡tposting.”

Daniel (and the friend who he runs the page with) has been posting in Edgy Sh¡tposting About Hip Hop Music since August 2016. They have happily watched their popularity and recognition in the meme community rise since. As Daniel explains, though, gaining likes came with help from a larger, stranger, meme family.

“(At the start) all I did was statuses. Like, ‘I bet Denzel Curry can only talk in shouts,’ or ‘Lil Yachty is the greatest rapper of all time,’ you know just to fuck with people,” he says. “Anything I thought was funny I’d share into Young Thugga La Group. That got me up to 600 likes. Then Colorful M e m e s shared the fourth actual photo I made — I was paying out Ab Soul after he dissed Lil Uzi Vert — I was freaking out, like holy shit they have a hundred thousand likes!”

Young Thugga La Group, and Colorful M e m e s are but two branches in an expansive family tree of Facebook meme pages. Others such as Niggaz Still WILIN, Big Gucci Denze, and Young Thugga La Meme are also prominent — and are mostly run by one dude named Devin, says Daniel.

“I swear half the meme pages are run by (Devin). I can’t remember them all, but there’s like 10-ish all with over 10,000 likes. He’s meme overlord of the Facebook world,” says Daniel. “He made a status on his Facebook ages ago and actually mentioned my page. It made me happy.”

Even though Daniel says Edgy Sh¡tposting is “basically just a discount Young Thugga La Meme,” they’ve had a number of their posts take off. He mentions one in particular that still leaves him shaking his head.

“Most recently I had (a post) that’s just a screenshot of a YouTube video called ‘Every Good J Cole Song’ and it’s zero seconds long. I didn’t even make that video, someone shared it in YTLG, and I just took a screenshot,” he says laughing. “It’s got 1,000 shares or something crazy.”

According to Daniel, 50 per cent of Edgy Sh¡tposting’s memes are just “recycled shit, and recycled formulas,” which makes him “a little sad.” At different times, both his original and repurposed memes have received a lot of attention, leaving him still on the hunt for a sure-fire recipe for meme success.

“It’s one of my pet peeves. Sometimes I will put heaps of time into a meme, and think it’s really funny, but it will get no likes. Other times, it’s just a screenshot that’s not even my idea, and it’s like the most popular meme of all time. It’s so unpredictable,” he says. “Sometimes you think, ‘Oh if I post about this person I’ll get more likes,’ but it’s just not true. It seems to be really random what gets big or not, I can’t find a formula of what works, so I just post whatever.”

As for Daniel’s current feelings towards his meme page, he laughs at the question.

“I hate my page’s name! Because, really I don’t shitpost. Shitposting pages, I imagine, are ones that post 10 things a day that are trash, and some are funny, but you kind of want to unlike it. Plus, we’re not really that edgy. Sometimes I say shit to offend, like I’ll say ‘I don’t like 21 Savage’ just because people like him. But usually I hold off on a lot of that stuff,” he says. “If I had to say something edgy though, I guess it would be, I unironically enjoy JEFFERY by Young Thug. If that’s not edgy, I don’t know what is.”

Related Articles

Back to top button