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Spotlight, moonlight, uh [REDACTDED], why you trippin’? Get your mood right Shawty look good in the moonlight,
T CAN EASILY BE INFERRED that the epitome of all great meme culture stems from none other than our vro and savior, Jasheh Onfroy. Also known by his pen name, XXXTentacion, short for unknown temptations, Onfroy became without a doubt, the single most influential figure in the modern decade specifically in the world of meme culture. Remembered for his deep lyricism within masterpieces such as “Moonlight” and “Look at Me!”, he single handedly created a new genre of emotional music known as Sad Bart Simpsonism. He was a prodigy. The world is indebted to him for the contribution he made to society, through his music and influence on the development of memes. With the historical context of the current decade, memes emerged online with the invention of the social networking website Facebook in early 2004. However, they did not become an explosively large phenomena until the early 2010s with the invention of rage comics and Pingu. As new meme formats where explored, old ones were quickly forgotten and memes started to lose all shape and form. Memes that lost all sense of formatting changed into an archaic field of nihilistic humor popularized by prank shows such as the Dobre Brothers who capitalize on this schema. A few examples to describe this archaic schema include: “The simp has fallen in love with the E-girl” or the infamous “Every female born after 1993 can’t cook. All they know is [Redacted], charge they phone, be [Redacted], eat hot chips, and lie” meme. It was not until the quick rise of XXXtentacion in early 2016 that realism was brought back to the archaism of meme culture. XXXtentacion became a unifying figure, he brought the masses together, and cured my depression. Memes finally came back to life, regaining their reality. “I do not think there is a single conceivable option other than Jahseh Onfroy’s work as an example for catalysing the reunification between logical humor and meme culture,” said physics teacher Roberto Del Valle. “Not only did his music move us with his deep lyricism,
Segment from “Moonlight” XXX Tentacion.
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COMMENTARY BY DILAN DENHAM but the words he shared with us over Instagram live videos will never be forgotten.” It is not entirely known to this date how XXXtentacion was able to capture an entire generation throughout the 2010s, however his effect on the general populous can not be undermined. He made one of the most endearing changes to the overall meme culture, as it lost a great sense of reality in early 2016 due to the hysteria caused by Harambe’s influence. The year of 2016 would be plagued by nonsensical nihilistic humor seen in popular trends such as deep fried memes and dobre brother videos. It would only be through the grace of the most undoubtedly talented musician of the decade to bring humor back to its rightful origins. “To me, he was much more than an icon, he was this sort of essence. He just captivated me. He made us weep, laugh, and everything in between. A real Will Smith type,” senior Aidan Tamargo said. “On the rough days and nights where I needed something to look up to, he was there smiling with me. He truly became the most influential person in not only my life, but the lives of our generation. In meme culture, he was all the hype, everything we could have wanted.” When Forbes posted their unprejudiced list of the decades richest self-made American women in 2019, many were quick to point out how harshly they messed up. Not only did they fail to give XXXTentacion the number one spot for his incredible economic feats, but they falsely placed the rapper’s son Gekyume in second place behind Stormi Webster for most influential babies. However, XXXTentacion’s career as a catalyst for all things funny was unwavered. Sadly, meme culture is facing another attack on its foundations as new social media website, TikTok, has funelled archaism back into meme culture. Currently, meme hubs such as Instagram and Reddit are resisting against the surge of “normie” content — a prevalent threat that could have the power to destroy what Jahseh Onfroy created. However, his embodiment of what he stood up for can never be forgotten. Never before in our digital age has someone been able to change the face of a single generation. Onfroy became the father of new age humor. He made the masses laugh and will forever be remembered as the 2010s greatest meme.
Now, we look towards the second coming of the Jah— the one and only Gekyume Onfroy. Comparing the greatness of Gekyume to his predecessor is like comparing the 2019 Honda Civic Type R to the 1999 Honda Civic two door hatchback. The differences are outlandishly clear. Gekyume has overtaken his father’s groundbreaking social influence in the short time of a few years, reaching the likes of Will Smith and Moses. The young advocate for Girls Who Code has already prestiged twice on code.org, surpassing every other user in just two years. He now spends the majority of his time in the back seat of his mom’s Chevy Tahoe with the air on listening to his favorite music. He spends this time by setting online conference calls with world leaders such as Mitt Romney, the Dobre Brothers and even my personal favorite, Michelle Obama. While on the call, he single handedly manages some of the hardest world dilemmas imaginable.
Attention Gables! To settle the debate once and for all, vote on who deserves the tite of meme of the decade using this QR code!
Just last fall, he reasoned out that getting the high ground in Fortnite, led to higher win to loss ratios. Gekyume has become, like his father, the definition of positive social change. The world will forever be in their debt for the revolutionary changes they made to the comedic scene. Gone are the days of normie viners, gone are the days of private posts appearing in your group chat and finally, gone are the days of Timothy Chalamet. We now wait patiently, for the bright future in meme culture to thrive and create new trends to fill our incessant souls. h
