You Know I Had to Do It to Em

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About

You Know I Had to Do It to Em is a photoshop meme based on a picture of Twitter user LuckyLuciano17k standing on a sidewalk wearing a light-colored shirt and shorts with the caption "You know I had to do it to em."

Origin

On September 2nd, 2014, Twitter user LuckyLuciano17k posted the photograph of himself with the caption "You know I had to do it to em" (shown below).^[1] Prior to the Twitter account becoming private on December 22nd, 2016, the tweet received more than 1,700 likes and 1,700 retweets.

Spread

The tweet remained relatively unknown until July 1st, 2016, when Twitter user @ExhelonWinter^[4] reposted the photo with a mock caption depicting @LuckyLuciano17k as a snobby hip hop fan (shown below).

first mock caption that started the meme You Know I had To Do It To Them

On July 7th, Tumblr user zonecassette posted an ad for the candy M&M featuring an M&M version of the television host Dr. Phil standing with his arms crossed along with the caption "You know I had to do it to em," garnering more than 4,400 notes within six months (shown below, left). On July 26th, Tumblr user queenwhiskey reposted the original photograph.^[6] On December 5th, Tumblr user splooge-mcducc posted a photoshop of LuckyLuciano17k as the character Fred Flintstone from the cartoon The Flintstones (shown below, right). Within three weeks, the post gained over 18,000 notes.

I had to do it to them meme of the kid made into a green M&M with a mustache

Had to do it to them meme of the kids as Fred Flinstone

On December 22nd, Tumblr user milkyboyhanzo posted a photoshop featuring the character Zenyatta from Overwatch (shown below, left). The following day, Tumblr user graffitidraws^[7] posted an illustration of the character Stingy from LazyTown based on the original LuckyLuciano17k photo (shown below, right).

I had to do it to them meme as Zenyatta from Overwatch

I had to do it to them meme as Stingy from LazyTown

The meme continued appearing in various iterations through October of 2017. On October 1st, Twitter user @lujgi posted a photoshop of the character as the twins from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, gaining over 8,400 retweets (shown below, left). The same day, Instagram meme maker adam.the.creator^[8] posted an image including Luciano in a "All the memes of September" collage (shown below, right).

eniko @lujgi Follow 311 20 3:39 PM-1 Oct 2017

All of September in one meme You heard of me? CURRY 30 SKRRRRA! POP-OOP SPECIAL REPORT Kylie Sonogram Shocker: Monkey Getting Haircut!* Psycho clown terrorizes innocents...Pennywise, too...J.onah u ok?...Had to do it to 'em.. Kanye's ting goes skrrra. *PS: Khloe is pregnant, too...but nobody cares

Arrest

On July 29th, Lucky Luciano launched a GoFundMe^[9] campaign titled "Free Lucky Campaign," claiming that he was "arrested over BS" and needed money to pay for "legal costs, court fees, bail money" and a lawyer to sue the police officers who arrested him (shown below).

That day, a link to the GoFundMe was tweeted by @LuckyLucianoOG.^[12] In response to the tweet, Twitter user @ChungMoolah^[11] tweeted a screenshot of an arrest record with charges for possession of illicit substances (shown below).

Charges Custody Charge Charge Days Count ype No Charge Description Class Court DISP 1POSSESS CNTRL SUB W/O Probable Cause F3 31B Recognizance $0.00 B $0.00 PRESCRIPTION/COCAINE Report # CT-Case # Date Agency OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number HS201833106818-CF-006983- 05/13/2018 HS 2939080838 DRUG2102 HS18014154 Remark RR J/WOLFE 060118 e Custody Charge Charge No Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond DaysCount ype Probable Cause 2 F3 31B Recognizance $0.00 B $0.00 POSSESSION OF CANNABIS WITH INTENT TO SELL Report # CT-Case # Date Agency OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number 18-CF-006132- 05/14/2018 HS 2939080838 DRUG2320 Remark RR J/WOLFE 060118 Fine Custody Charge Charge DaysCount No Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond Type Probable Cause 3 USING/POSSESSION OF DRUG M1 31B Recognizance $0.00 B $0.00 PARAPHERNALIA (DR OBTS Number CRA Number Charge Code DRUG8102 Report # CT-Case # Agency HS ate 18-CF-006132- 05/14/2018 2939080838 Remark RR J/WOLFE 060118 Fine Custody Charge Charge Days Count No Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond Type Probable Cause 4 ATTACHING LICENSE PLATE/TAG M2 NOT ASSIGNED Report # 31B Recognizance$0.00 B $%0.00 CT-Case # Date OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number Agency HS 18-CF-006132- 05/14/2018 2939080838 TRAF5040 Remark RR J/WOLFE 060118

Meanwhile, Lucky Luciano uploaded a video to his YouTube channel discussing his arrest (shown below).

The following day, Twitter user @queggsi^[10] tweeted out a screenshot of a now-deleted Instagram post showing Lucky Luciano's mugshot (shown below). The tweet was subsequently deleted. Meanwhile, Facebook^[13] user JG Brown posted the mugshot along with arrest record screenshots.

luckylucianoog Sheriffs Office ooking Image

Where's Waldo?-Style Edits

In 2018, edits of the meme in which people subtly photoshopped Luciano into other pictures grew popular, particularly on Tumblr. There, one would post an image witch captions like "he's here," leading to reblog chains of people asking "Where the f--k is he?" and similar questions. For example, one of the early edits in this style, posted by ray-winters-sings on September 20th, edited an image of some of the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate roster (shown below, left). Another edit posted by user axleheart on October 6th photoshopped Luciano into the poster for the new Halloween film (shown below, right).

dan-the-baker. SOMEONE ADD A PICTURE OF ISABELLE SHES BLONDE 0 Actually canl have five more of these little blonde bitches? I also added a super special secret new challenger but you gotta find them dan-the-baker Source: otherwindow

The popularity of these edits led to the creation of two blogs titled "Where the F--k Is He?" devoted to reposting examples of the meme.^[14]^[15] On October 9th, Tumblr user givemethefrenchfries^[16] compared "I’m fcukibng shakinbg where the f--k is he” to a comment akin to Is This Loss?

OSTED LAKESCINNAMON FROSTED FLAKES FROSTED FLAKES

World Airlines Community Tuesday at 7:10 AM This guy found himself on an empty airplane so he took a picture of himself in every seat and photoshopped them together

Location

On @LuckyLuciano's Twitter profile, an address in Tampa, Florida is listed, which has been identified as the location of the original "You know I had to do it to em" photograph. On February 3rd, 2018, YouTuber DawnSavior uploaded a video featuring Google Earth of the address (shown below).

On July 4th, 2018, Twitter user @BrendanHersh^[18] tweeted a photograph of himself recreating the photograph at the same location (shown below).

Brendan @BrendanHersh You know I had to do it to em I traveled to 14304 Capitol Drive, Tampa, FL to recreate this iconic image. Video coming soon. 51 11:42 AM - Jul 4, 2018 See Brendan in.b's other Tweets

On November 27th, 2018, Twitter user @JeffJoseph96^[17] tweeted a photograph of himself standing in the same location as the original Lucky Luciano photograph (shown below). Within 48 hours, the tweet received more than 173,000 likes and 34,200 retweets.

Jeff @JeffJoseph96 Today I visited a historic American landmark

Templates

Various Examples

example of I Had To Do It To Them meme which was one of the first to get this meme started

larry bird as white dude in I had To Do It To Them

I had to do it to them meme anime version

Brother why did you do it, I had to do it to them Anime version of the meme

I had to do it to them meme with the kid photoshopped out of the picture completely

I had to do it to them meme of the kid doubled and joked that one lies, one always tell the truth, both pay 20 a gram

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Twitter – @LuckyLuciano17k / Posted on 9-2-2014

^[4] Twitter – @echelonwinter / Posted on 7-1-2016

^[6] Tumblr – queenwhiskey

^[7] Tumblr – graffitidraws

^[8] Instagram – adam.the.creator (page unavailable)

^[9] GoFundMe – Free Lucky Campaign

^[10] Internet Archive – @queggsi tweet

^[11] Twitter – @ChungMoolah

^[12] Twitter – @LuckyLucianoOG

^[13] Facebook – JG Brown

^[14] Tumblr – where-the-f--k-is-he

^[15] Tumblr – wherethef--kishe

^[16] Tumblr – givemethefrenchfries (page unavailable)

^[17] Twitter – @JeffJoseph96

^[18] Twitter – @BrendanHersh

Recent Videos 7 total

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You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Straw Manchild	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by WillieWill64	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Sum Lu Zer	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Sum Lu Zer
You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Straw Manchild	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Straw Manchild	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by OurDeerLeader	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Philipp
You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by andcallmeshirley	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Adam	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by SML24	You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by SuperPalmTree 3

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Top Comments

Twelve Mad Flamingos

Oct 04, 2017 at 10:02PM EDT

Honestly, this is probably my favourite meme ever.

It's so much of an anti-joke, so devoid of absolutely all meaning or commentary that no mainstream audience could ever latch on to it properly and over-saturate the web with it, sending the meme to its grave.

No, there are no quick two-word phrases you can wide-space out in a Youtube comment for instantly 500 likes. There is no quickly recognisable emoji you can pepper your messages with. There is no audio clip you can bass-boost and dump into a Dank Meme Vine compilation (at least I'm pretty sure they still call those "vine compilations" despite vine being dead).

All you get it just the dude.
The dude standing there.
Standing there to be photoshopped into different locations or with different clothes or get replaced by another character also just standing there.

You get next to nothing.
And the mainstream can't do anything with that.

And it becomes the story of a post-ironic meme that has managed to survive and stay fresh despite having been one for longer than a year so far. Something genuinely impressive in 2017, where the lifetime of a meme can easily be found at less than a month.

+237

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THUNDER You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Sovetski	YOU KNOW I HAD TO DO IT EM You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Sublimeslimetime	You know i had to do it to em You Know I Had to Do It to Em Uploaded by Niox

Lexi Bonner Fighting Kid Footage	Khyleri
Sweet Baby Inc Controversy	LeBron James Reportedly

You Know I Had to Do It to Em

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