About

Chief Keef Arrives In Ukraine refers to a series of ironic memes about deploying rapper Chief Keef into Ukraine during the 2021-2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict, claiming Keef could easily solve the crisis. A photoshop edit of Chief Keef with a gun approaching armed soldiers was posted to iFunny in late January 2022 and went viral on Twitter and Instagram through reposts in February following Russia's first attacks on Ukraine. The image is also used as an exploitable where Keef is replaced with another ironic character.

Origin

On September 25th, 2017, Redditor shamaly posted an image to /r/photoshopbattles^[3] of a Palestinian man standing in front of armed Israeli soldiers, inspiring a number of photoshops (shown below, left). On January 4th, 2020, Facebook^[12] page Rappers In Peculiar Places posted a photoshop of the image replacing the man with Chief Keef and adding a news chyron to the bottom of the image reading, "Chief Keef arrives in Iran," gaining over 5,200 reactions and 5,600 shares in two years (shown below, right).

On August 17th, 2021, iFunny^[1] user ALEXMTCH1 posted another photoshop of the same image replacing "Iran" with "Afghanistan," gaining over 20 smiles in five years. On January 28th, iFunny^[2] user YannekieX posted a photoshop of the image replacing "Afghanistan" with "Ukraine," gaining over 175 smiles in a month (shown below).

Spread

The meme and references to it spread across Twitter over the course of February 2022 as talks about Russia invading Ukraine heightened. On February 4th, Twitter^[4] user @punchGodTwo posted a version of the meme with Chief Keef invading Iran, writing, "Someone drop chief Keef in Ukraine and it all gon be over in a hour," gaining over 1,800 likes in three weeks. On February 19th, Twitter^[5] user @SmileySenju tweeted, "If we put chief keef in Ukraine this would be over within an hour," gaining over 2,000 likes and 290 retweets in a week (shown below).

On February 22nd, Twitter^[6] user @patsmakemesad posted a TikTok video allegedly showing troops heading to Ukraine while playing Chief Keef's music (shown below). The on-screen caption reads, "On our way to Russia but we got Love Sosa so were good." The original TikTok upload has since been deleted.

they bumping Chief Keef on their way to Ukraine yeah it’s a wrap for Russia. US in 4 pic.twitter.com/MgRSZMtCAQ

— pātšmâkęmėśãd ®️ (@patsmakemesad) February 22, 2022

On February 23rd, Twitter^[7] user @lokjah posted the image of Keef moving into Ukraine, writing, "BREAKING: CHIEF KEEF ARRIVES IN UKRAINE ‼️," gaining over 128,000 likes and 20,000 retweets in two days (shown below).

The post inspired numerous photoshops on Instagram over the following day replacing Chief Keef with another person or character that would arguably be useless in the war. On February 24th, Instagram^[8] user thestranglesquad posted a photoshop replacing Keef with Nate Diaz, gaining over 7,700 likes in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, Instagram^[9] user whut.whut.in.da.butt posted a version with NBA Youngboy, gaining over 500 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Chief Keef's Response

On February 25th, 2022, Chief Keef posted an image to Instagram^[10] of himself as a giant lying on top of a cityscape from a birds-eye view, a cup of lean beside him, writing, "On the way to Ukraine 🚶💥🔫🏃," gaining over 845,000 likes in eight hours (shown below). He also posted the link to Twitter,^[11] gaining over 20,000 likes in the same span of time.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References