About

When Shawty Talm Bout "Make It a Meal" or Crispy $5 In My Pocket is a series of image macro memes in which an absurd caricature of a celebrity or character is paired with a caption about a girl asking her date to order too much food, forcing the date to worry whether the crispy money in his pocket is enough or not. The caption typically uses the AAVE slang "talmbout," which means "talking about." The memes, often set to a whistling rendition of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," were popularized on TikTok in mid-January 2026.

Origin

On January 8th, 2026, TikToker^[1] @john.longhorn7 posted a slideshow meme set to a whistling sound that appears to be a rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" consisting of a caricature of pro boxer Mike Tyson by Sebastian Kruger under the caption, "When shawty (who's a tomboy of course) talm bout some 'make it a meal' so you js look at the crisp fiver in yo wallet like," garnering over 795,000 views in six days. This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

The meme continued to spread over the following days, inspiring versions that use different caricatures and slightly alter the caption.

For example, on January 10th, 2026, TikToker^[2] @shine.fv0 posted a version using a caricature by artist Arie Vanderwyst^[3] of Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) from Peaky Blinders, garnering over a million views in four days.

On January 11th, TikToker^[4] @jamiroquaienjoyer posted a version of the meme using a caricature of actor Vin Diesel by Ernest Prego, captioned, "When shawty talkin bout sum 'make it a meal' so you just stare at yo crisp 4 dollars like this," garnering over 2.6 million views in three days.

On January 12th, 2026, TikToker^[5] @ posted a version of the meme that uses a caricature of actor Jack Nicholson by artist Pol Serra,^[6] garnering over 1.6 million views in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References