About

Drip is a slang term used to praise one's style or outfit. It came to use through hip-hop culture and has been used synonymously with terms like "swag," growing in popularity until it saw use in several ironic memes.

Origin

The use of "Drip" in hip hop can be traced back to the mid-90s and early 2000s. The music annotation site Genius^[1] notes that the songs "Pimp the Pen" by Lil Keke (1996) and Ghostface Killah's "Nutmeg" (2000) alluded to "Drip," but rapper Sauce Walka claims that he popularized the way the word is currently used in his 2014 mixtape, Saucemania. On the track "Flava In Ya Ear," he raps, "Talking flava in ya ear right here / I know your hear me motherfucker / (I know you hear me) / Splash! Drip-drop!" Speaking to Genius, he says, "To drip is to be a king. To drip is to be a winner." Rapper Gunna has also laid claim to starting "Drip."^[3]

Spread

The term began seeing much more mainstream usage in the latter half of the 2010s alongside the rise of Migos. Migos' Offset uses the term in the chorus of 2017's Bad and Boujee and the group scored another hit that year titled "Ric Flair Drip" (shown below, left). In 2018, Cardi B released "Drip" which features Migos.

On October 8th, 2018, a definition for "Drip" was added to Urban Dictionary by user splashtonkutcher^[2] (shown below).

Related Memes

Respect The Drip Karen

Respect the Drip Karen refers to a viral TikTok video in which a person explains that they've been working on a new outfit but their step mother won't allow them to wear it out and then reveal their outfit while saying "respect the drip Karen." The phrase includes the common antagonist female character Karen commonly found in memes as well as the slang "drip" which stands for style or outfit. In August 2019 the original audio of the video was then used in other TikTok videos that showcase strange outfits.

Among Drip

Among Drip refers to a viral 3D render of three crewmates from the 2018 video game Among Us wearing Nike Jordan shoes. In December 2020, memes based on the render gained significant popularity online as an ironic Among Us meme, similar to When the Imposter Is Sus.

Goku Drip

Goku Drip is an image of Dragon Ball character Goku wearing Hypebeast clothing that in November 2020 began to be used in bait and switch videos.

Search Interest

External References