LeBron Rapping / LeDontKnowTheLyrics / "Yabadabadoo Old Navy"

About

LeBron Rapping, also known as LeBron Mumbling Wrong Lyrics, LeDontKnowTheLyrics, refers to multiple videos of NBA player LeBron James blatantly mumbling and not singing the correct lyrics to hip-hop and R&B songs. The videos were predominantly posted to LeBron's own Instagram Story but later surfaced across Twitter and TikTok. One video in particular of LeBron phonetically singing "Yabadabadoo Old Navy" to a 6LACK song while drinking wine trended as a TikTok sound in which creators pretended that it was a famous quote so inspirational and motivational that when pondered would make them think differently about committing terrible or reckless acts. The trend is similar to memes made about LeBron Lying.

Origin

On May 28th, 2018, Twitter^[1] user OldAgeMage quote retweeted a since-deleted video of LeBron James singing, captioning it, "I’m mad lebron don’t know the damn lyrics 😂 nigga was loud and wrong." Although the video is unknown, the tweet is the first known mention of LeBron rapping the wrong lyrics. On January 24th, 2019, YouTuber^[2] @ssamtube112 posted a video from LeBron's Instagram story of him rapping the wrong lyrics to a Lil Baby song, gaining roughly 15,800 views in three years (shown below). The video is the first known piece of evidence regarding LeBron's lyric mumbling.

Spread

On April 4th, 2020, the Twitter^[3] user DoeBoyOfficial tweeted a video reposted from their own TikTok account showing LeBron rapping in a room full of people, gaining roughly 34,700 likes in two years (shown below). Multiple Twitter^[4][5] users quote retweeted the video, joking about LeBron not knowing the lyrics.

Lebron in a room full of white people not giving a fuck is legendary 😂 pic.twitter.com/WgB9dfsOhb

— DOE BEEZY/FREEBANDZ (@DoeBoyOfficial) April 4, 2020

LeBron Rapping Pop Smoke's "For the Night"

On July 3rd, 2020, multiple reposts of LeBron's then-recent Instagram story surfaced across platforms, showing him in the car rapping along to Pop Smoke's song "For the Night." For instance, on July 3rd, 2020, YouTuber^[6] WASPUT uploaded a full-length screen recording of the Instagram story, gaining roughly 43,400 views in two years (shown below).

The aforementioned video surfaced on TikTok^[7] around the same time and continued surfacing on TikTok^[8] and Twitter^[9] going into 2021 and 2022.

LeBron Singing 6LACK's "Stay Down" / "Yabadabadoo Old Navy"

On January 17th, 2021, TikToker^[10] javontawilliams3 posted a video that was a screen recording of LeBron's then-recent Instagram story in which he was sipping a glass of wine outside and singing along to 6LACK's song "Stay Down." TikToker javontawilliams3's video received roughly 1.1 million plays and 193,000 likes in two years, predominantly because of LeBron phonetically singing, "Yabadabadoo Old Navy" (shown below).

On January 18th, 2021, Twitter^[11] user regi_nacho reposted TikToker javontawilliams3's video, captioning it, "Lebron has always been good at keeping up w new music but the way he never knows any of the lyrics when he’s rapping along in his IG stories always has me weak af he really said 'yabadabadodobo old navy' 💀," and receiving roughly 6.7 million views and 179,400 likes in the same time period (shown below).

Lebron has always been good at keeping up w new music but the way he never knows any of the lyrics when he’s rapping along in his IG stories always has me weak af he really said “yabadabadodobo old navy” 💀 pic.twitter.com/gsDmrTZxyq

— regina (@regi_nacho) January 19, 2021

Due to the mass engagement that Twitter user regi_nacho's tweet received, 6LACK eventually responded to LeBron's mumbling by reposting the video to his own TikTok^[12] on January 19th, 2021, and writing, "maybe i wrote the lyrics wrong & he’s the correct one 🤔." 6LACK's TikTok received roughly 5.8 million plays and 1.1 million likes in two years.

LeBron's Famous Quote TikTok Trend

On December 2nd, 2022, the TikTok^[13] account civilus reposted LeBron's "Yabadabadoo Old Navy" video, gaining roughly 6 million plays and 711,000 likes in ten days. Due to the video's virality, a new TikTok trend emerged with the old clip in which creators pretended that the mumbled lyric was an inspirational LeBron quote. For instance, TikToker^[14] agilreath123 started the trend with a video uploaded on December 9th, 2022, gaining roughly 49,400 plays and 3,700 likes in nine days (shown below, left). Others soon followed with more viral iterations. For instance, on December 9th, 2022, TikToker^[15] hoop.angel posted a video that pretended LeBron thought of the lyric before dunking, gaining roughly 9.5 million plays and 1.1 million likes in three days (shown below, right).

Related Memes

LeBron Lying

LeBron Lying, also known as LeBron James Lying or LeBron James Predicted X, is a series of videos, and other evidence, levied in a Twitter thread that purportedly showed LeBron James blatantly telling lies at press conferences and in interviews, often claiming that he predicted or had "gut feelings" about events with hyperbolic accuracy. The concept of LeBron James being a pathological liar trended in memes on TikTok, Twitter and elsewhere in November 2022, however, the practice of documenting James' habit of lying started as early as 2016.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References