About

"Ballin'" is a song by Mustard, featuring rapper Roddy Ricch and has the primary lyics "I Put The New Forgis On The Jeep." It was released in mid-2019 and became a prominent meme song in early 2023 following its association with Animan Studios' "Axel in Harlem" cartoon. The song was then referenced as giving flashbacks to the NSFW and the explicit nature of the meme. Multiple remixes soon surfaced of the song in 2023, including a country version that earned its own memes.

Origin

"Ballin'" was released on August 20th, 2019, on the album Perfect Ten.^[1] On October 2nd, 2019, the song's music video was posted to YouTube^[2] where it received over 271 million views in three years (shown below).

Animan Studios / Axel In Harlem

On January 23rd, 2023, TikToker^[3] @l_o_r_d_v_e_l_i_k_a_n posted the "Axel in Harlem" cartoon from Animan Studios set to Mustard's "Ballin'," gaining roughly 1.3 million plays and 179,200 likes in ten days (shown below).

Spread

@l_o_r_d_v_e_l_i_k_a_n video inspired, many more creators to use "Ballin'" for Animan Studios memes going into early 2023. For instance, on January 31st, 2023, TikToker^[4] @cellronavirus posted a cropped version of the explicit "Axel in Harlem" cartoon with "Ballin'" as the sound, earning roughly 543,600 likes in two months (shown below, left). As the usage of the song became associated with the explicit cartoon, a general awareness grew online, displayed in videos calling out the association. For instance, on February 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[5] @gokinoo imagined Roddy Ricch's reaction to seeing why his song was trending, earning roughly 607,500 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Country Version

Roughly three years prior to the Animan Studios meme, on April 26th, 2020, TikToker^[6] @itsrashad posted a country version of the song "Ballin'," earning roughly 318,800 likes in three years (shown below, left). Once "Axel in Harlem" became a meme in early 2023, @itsrashad's TikTok^[7] sound was used in memes related to the trend, gaining roughly 30,200 videos using it. For instance, on February 11th, 2023, TikToker^[8] @needyeat_ used the song for the cowboy Animan Studios cartoon, earning roughly 67,300 plays and 2,000 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Going into 2023, the country version was used for other meme trends, predominantly the White People at the Function meme.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References