You Know I Had to Do it to Em

In 2014, a 17-year-old in Tampa let his sister style an outfit and take his picture on the sidewalk outside his childhood home. He captioned it "you know I had to do it to em." Two years later, a stranger's repost turned him into the internet's default image of the privileged frat boy, and after that into a Dr. Phil M&M, a Fred Flintstone, a Youtooz figure, a Carnaval costume in Brazil, and the cover of a rapper's debut album. Along the way came a drug arrest, a GoFundMe that raised $245 toward a $7,000 goal, and a stretch of Florida sidewalk that became a real meme pilgrimage site. Ten years later, he went back and took the photo again.For more information: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-know-i-had-to-do-it-to-emHosted by Frankie Fey. Go subscribe to her channel and follow her everywhere else:▶ FRANKIE FEYYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FrankieFeyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankie.fey/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@frankie.feyX / Twitter: https://x.com/frankiefeySubscribe for more internet history, weekly.SOURCES You Know I Had to Do It to Em on Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-know-i-had-to-do-it-to-em Tampa Bay Times, "10 years later, meme still draws fans to Tampa sidewalk": https://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2024/12/18/tampa-meme-viral-anniversary-lucky-luciano/ Lucky Luciano recreates the photo ten years later: https://knowyourmeme.com/news/lucky-luciano-had-to-recreate-his-iconic-photograph-ten-years-later Daily Dot, Meme History: Lucky Luciano: https://dailydot.com/meme-history-lucky-luciano Free Lucky Campaign on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/free-lucky-campaign The Youtooz figure: https://youtooz.com/products/you-know-i-had-to-do-it-to-em Dazed on ian's "Valedictorian" cover: https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/64385/1/why-viral-rapper-ians-embrace-of-white-privilege-is-so-uncomfortable Museu de Memes on the Brazilian version: https://museudememes.com.br/collection/com-licenca-senhor r/tumblr on the Carnaval costumes: https://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr/comments/axlq9o/they_know_they_had_to_do_it_to_em/ 10 Iconic Places Where Famous Memes Were Made: https://trending.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/collections/10-iconic-places-where-famous-memes-were-made-that-you-can-visitHosted by Frankie FeyWritten by Phillip HamiltonEdited by Flor Mendez / Milan LabsProduced by Andy Sowar