Kawhi Leonard's "What It Do Baby?"

About

Kawhi Leonard's "What It Do Baby" refers to a clip of NBA star Kawhi Leonard enthusiastically saying "What it do baby!" in a video posted by Toronto Raptors teammate Serge Ibaka after the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship. The clip gained viral fame in part due to Leonard's reputation for stoicism and odd social behavior, and saw use as a reaction clip on Twitter.

Origin

On June 15th, 2019, Toronto Raptors player Serge Ibaka posted a story to his Snapchat featuring him and Kawhi Leonard, who he calls "fun guy." When the camera pans to Leonard, he says "What it do, babyyyy!" The clip was posted to Twitter^[1] by user @MSlickk, gaining over 7,700 retweets and 35,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

The clip quickly spread on Twitter as people joked about Leonard showing his "fun" side in an awkward way. User @JRoc23 tweeted it was the "Summer of Kawhi 'WHAT IT DO BABY'," gaining over 20 retweets and 80 likes (shown below, top). User @OzzyForMayor joked that it appeared Leonard was rolling a marijuana blunt, gaining over 1,000 retweets and 5,500 likes (shown below, bottom).

Others users began using the clip as a reaction image. For example, Twitter user @MrSoupreme tweeted a joke about Clippy with the clip, gaining over 18,000 retweets and 63,000 likes (shown below, top). User @SheWantsTheVic tweeted a joke about Apple Music with the clip, gaining over 35,000 retweets and 85,000 likes (shown below, bottom). The jokes were covered by HipHop Wired.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References