Xzibit Yo Dawg

Origins

Xzibit is the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride and is well known for putting awesome things like fishtanks, clothes dryers, and even fireplaces in the back of your car. Pimp.

The “Yo dawg” or “Sup dawg” image macro first appeared on the ’chans in early 2007 and experienced a resurgence in late 2008 on Reddit, Tumblr, and other mainstream forums & blogs. It follows a simple format:

Standard: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an X in your Y so you can VERB while you VERB
Repetitive: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an X in your X so you can X while you X
Abstract: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an Y in your Z so you can VERB while you VERB

Media

The following image is widely considered the original image macro:

The photo used in the original macro is from this promo photoshoot for the movie “Gridiron Gang”

Trending

“yo dawg” (blue), “sup dawg” (red) “i heard you like”

Nesting, recursion

The Yo Dawg image macro has a unique characteristic in being recursive. This multi-layered structure in the Yo Dawg formula makes it reminiscient of the “strange loops” described in Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach.

Xzibit’s reaction

The explosive popularity of microblogging service Twitter has reached celebrities, Xzibit included.

In one of his first tweets he decries his embodiment as a meme: View Tweet

…which led to the creation of this image macro:

Several days later, he rescinded his criticism, saying “i’m not mad @ you”: View Tweet

In the final stage of celeb-o-meme -- “acceptance” -- Xzibit embraces the yo dawg, attempting to his own: View Tweet

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