About

I'm Sorry Little Kids But I'm a Killer Clown Today, also known as Snipes Freestyle or Snipes Rap Battle, refers to a rap battle freestyle originally uploaded to YouTube in 2012 by the channel OneOuts Australia, featuring the Australian rapper Snipes. The video gained notoriety online going into the 2020s, mostly due to the freestyle being perceivably bad. It became a prevalent meme on TikTok in June 2023, following various AI voice renditions of the freestyle with other artists like Drake and Ice Spice, among others.

Origin

On August 26th, 2012, the YouTube^[1] channel OneOuts Australia uploaded a video called "1OUTS – RFTF3: 2SHAE vs SNIPES" in which rappers 2Shae and Snipes had a freestyle battle. Snipes' freestyle started at the video's 2:26-minute mark in which he started with the line, "I'm sorry little kids but I'm a killer clown today" (shown below). Over the course of 11 years, the video gained roughly 775,100 views and 16,000 likes.

The video gained notoriety years later in 2017 when YouTuber^[2] Jelly Croissant uploaded a video called "SNIPES RAP GOD" on January 9th, 2017, that remixed the freestyle and satirized it, gaining roughly 55,000 views and 1,700 likes in six years (shown below).

Spread

Later in 2017, YouTuber^[3] Cr1TiKaL posted a video called "Creepy Rapper" that discussed and humorously analyzed Snipes' freestyle, gaining roughly 3.9 million views 129,000 likes in six years (shown below, left). On December 15th, 2018, YouTuber^[4] Joseph Ross posted a remix of the freestyle, gaining roughly 11,800 views in five years (shown below, right).

The video gained increased memetic usage in 2023 when users on TikTok resurfaced it. For instance, on March 28th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @cstlworldwide reposted the original video, calling it, "the worst rap battle ever," gaining roughly 1.2 million plays and 118,500 likes in three months. It gained more engagement in a similar TikTok^[6] repost a month later, receiving roughly 1.9 million plays in two months.

Thereafter, many videos using the clip surfaced, such as an early iteration uploaded by TikToker^[7] @_..skill.._ on June 6th, 2023, that referenced Juice Wrld and the X If They Were Good format, gaining roughly 31,000 plays and 1,400 likes in 16 days (shown below, left). More iterations that followed the "X If They Were Good" format surfaced, additionally using AI-generated voices. For instance, on June 19th, 2023, TikToker^[8] @izayajayel uploaded an iteration that used AI Family Guy voices, receiving roughly 1.3 million plays and 258,400 likes in three days (shown below, right).

The lyrics from Snipes' freestyle continued to gain memes on TikTok^[9] in June 2023, additionally spreading to YouTube.^[10]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References