Mask Off

About

Mask Off refers to a 2017 hip-hop song by American rapper Future and a catchphrase by popularized it. The catchphrase has been used to indicate that one is showing their true nature and intentions without care for legal or social consequences, as well as in a variety of meme formats. In 2020, the phrase has seen use in the context of the compulsory mask wearing during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Origin

On February 17th, 2017, American rapper Future released his self-titled fifth studio album, which featured the track "Mask Off" written by Future, Leland Wayne and produced by Metro Boomin.^[1] On April 18th, 2017, Future released "Mask Off" as the second single from the album. On May 5th, 2017, a music video for the song premiered (shown below),^[2] accumulating over 419.2 million views on YouTube in three years.

Mask on (Off), fuck it, mask off (Mask)
Mask on (Off), fuck it, mask off (Mask)
Percocets ('Cets), molly, Percocets (Percocets)
Chase a check (Chase it), never chase a bitch (Don't chase no bitches)

While the meaning of the phrase "mask off" has not been explicitly stated by Future, it has been assumed^[10] that the phrase conveys Future's willingness to show his true self, such as him openly rapping about his drug use.

Spread

On March 2nd, Twitter user @ricelozano tweeted the hashtag "#maskoffchallenge"^[6] along with a video of himself looking into a mirror and taking a pair of sunglasses off to reveal another pair of sunglasses while "Mask Off" can be heard playing in the background (shown below). This and another tweet by Twitter^[7] user @ThatTrumpetGuy_ launched Mask Off Challenge, a practice of recreating the 2017 hip hop track "Mask Off" by Future with various musical instruments.

On March 15th, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @JoeyKurosaki posted the earliest known viral meme based on the song, a The Office parody. The video received over 4.9 million views in three years (shown below).

Mask Off pic.twitter.com/Ov8n1uZtqk

— JO1 (@JoeyKurosaki) March 16, 2017

The song spawned a variety of memes associated with it and the phrase "mask off," including memes in which two images of a person or a character, one with a mask and one without, and memes in which the phrase indicated that one is showing their true nature.

On April 7th, 2017, Twitter^[4] user @CHXPO posted one of the earliest memes following the former format (shown below, left), gaining over 1,800 retweets and comments and 1,800 likes in three years. On May 6th, 2017, Twitter^[5] user @KjThaMonarch posted a meme following the latter format that gained over 45,700 retweets and comments and 63,500 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

The phrases "mask off," "fuck it, mask off" and "mask on, fuck it, mask on" maintained significant popularity online in the following years. In 2020, the phrase "mask off" saw occasional use in the context of he compulsory mask wearing during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic, with users posting photographs of themselves with and without a face mask (examples^[8][9] shown below).

Related Memes

Mask Off Challenge

Mask Off Challenge refers to the practice of recreating "Mask Off" with various musical instruments. On social media platforms, recordings of the musical covers are often shared along with the hashtag "#MaskOffChallenge."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References