About

Druski "What Do You Mean By That?" is a reaction and viral video of internet comedian Druski saying "What do you mean by that?" to a rapper on Instagram Live in late 2020. The video spread to YouTube, Twitter and TikTok going into 2021 and 2022, being used as an exploitable meme format to question sus content and concepts within memes.

Origin

On December 5th, 2020, Druski was hosting an Instagram Live, inviting people to come on and talk with him. Among the guests was the rapper Grillz who sported dreads and gold grills while talking to Druski about some sus events in his life including multiple gang-related instances of violence and theft. Druski continued to provoke him until Grillz started singing about "taking lives." Druski then stopped him and said, "Take lives … What do you mean by that?," while leaning in, smiling and stroking his beard. When posted as the seventh video in an Instagram^[1] carousel post that day, the video received roughly 527,700 likes over the course of two years (shown below).

Spread

On December 10th, 2020, the video was reposted to YouTube^[2] by the channel Clout Entertainment. Over the course of two years, the video received roughly 451,400 views (shown below).

On February 15th, 2021, TikToker^[3] maceahwindu posted a video that used the clip, being the first to exploit it online. He inserted text overlay reading a staged conversation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin from Star Wars. It read, "Obi Wan – "Satine and I were very close" / Anakin -" with Anakin being Druski in the video. The TikTok (shown below) received roughly 20,000 likes over the course of one year.

More TikTokers hopped onto the trend going into the rest of 2021. For instance, on February 25th, TikToker^[4] yasminbragatto used the audio in a video, earning roughly 11,000 likes in one year (shown below, left). On April 4th, TikToker^[5] mookster.tkfa used the video as a way to make fun of a Rod Wave lyric. The TikTok (shown below, right) received roughly 1,900 likes in nine months.

On May 30th, 2021, the YouTube^[6] channel Clout Entertainment uploaded the full-length screen recording of the original Instagram Live, earning roughly 22,000 views in seven months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References