About

Cringe Ass Nae Nae Baby is a photograph of a child in which they appear to be performing the Nae Nae dance move. Starting August 2018, the photograph has been used in shitposting on Instagram and Reddit.

Origin

On September 14th, 2013, Vine user Kevin Cartez^[1] uploaded a Vine of the hip hop group WeAreToonz, who are credited with creating the dance, dancing the Nae Nae. As of March 2019, the Vine has gained over 1.1 million loops.

As the dance move gained popularity online, multiple clips in which people copied the Nae Nae dance were posted to YouTube and other platforms, including videos in which toddlers performed the dance move.^[2]

The origin of the Cringe Ass Nae Nae Baby meme is currently unknown. The photograph was allegedly posted by Instagram user @mr.sneakman_ to their Snapchat and Instagram on February 1st, 2018. On August 28th, 2018, Redditor^[3] keegan 299 reposted a blurred photoshopped image of a toddler who appeared to be performing the Nae Nae dance to /r/ComedyCemetery. The post gained 70 upvotes before being removed due to misinterpretation of the ironic message in the original post.^[4]

Spread

In the following months, the image was circulated across several ironic communities, including reposts and edits on Facebook,^[5] YouTube^[6] and /r/okbuddyretard subreddit.^[7] For example, a repost of the image in /r/okbuddyretard subreddit on November 13th, 2018, gained over 470 upvotes in four months.^[8]

On January 8th, 2019, Redditor^[9] Raaiyan posted an edit of the image in which a gun was pointed at the toddler to /r/bruhmoment subreddit, referring to the toddler as "Cringe Ass Nae Nae Baby". The post gained over 2,000 upvotes in three months.

In early February 2019, an unknown user created an ironic demotivational poster which claimed that the "Cringe Ass" Nae Nae Baby died in 2004 after being fatally shot. On February 10, Redditor^[10] ShredderZX reposted an edited version of the image to /r/comedyheaven subreddit, where it gained over 1,000 upvotes. On February 14th, 2019, an unedited version of the meme was posted to the subreddit (shown below).^[11]

Starting February 2019, the Nae Nae Baby gained significant popularity in the Instagram meme remix community. For example, on February 21st, Instagram^[12] user in.oma posted a remix which gained over 38,300 views and 9,000 likes in three weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References