You Know I Had to Do It to Em

About

You Know I Have to Do It to Em is a photoshop meme based on a picture of Twitter user LuckyLuciano17k standing on a sidewalk wearing a light-colored shirt and shorts with the caption “You know I had to do it to em.”

Origin

On September 2nd, 2014, Twitter user LuckyLuciano17k posted the photograph of himself with the caption “You know I had to do it to em” (shown below).^[1] Prior to the Twitter account becoming private on December 22nd, 2016, the tweet received more than 1,700 likes and 1,700 retweets.

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the original tweet by LuckyLUcianok17 that started the You Know I Have To Do It To Em meme

Spread

The tweet remained relatively unknown until July 1st, 2016, when Twitter user @ExhelonWinter^[4] reposted the photo with a mock caption depicting @LuckyLuciano17k as a snobby hip hop fan (shown below).

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first mock caption that started the meme You Know I had To Do It To Them

On July 7th, Tumblr user zonecassette posted an ad for the candy M&M featuring an M&M version of the television host Dr. Phil standing with his arms crossed along with the caption “You know I had to do it to em,” garnering more than 4,400 notes within six months (shown below, left). On July 26th, Tumblr user queenwhiskey reposted the original photograph.^[6] On December 5th, Tumblr user splooge-mcducc posted a photoshop of LuckyLuciano17k as the character Fred Flintstone from the cartoon The Flintstones (shown below, right). Within three weeks, the post gained over 18,000 notes.

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I had to do it to them meme of the kid made into a green M&M with a mustache

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Had to do it to them meme of the kids as Fred Flinstone

On December 22nd, Tumblr user milkyboyhanzo posted a photoshop featuring the character Zenyatta from Overwatch (shown below, left). The following day, Tumblr user graffitidraws^[7] posted an illustration of the character Stingy from LazyTown based on the original LuckyLuciano17k photo (shown below, right).

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I had to do it to them meme as Zenyatta from Overwatch

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I had to do it to them meme as Stingy from LazyTown

The meme continued appearing in various iterations through October of 2017. On October 1st, Twitter user @lujgi posted a photoshop of the character as the twins from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, gaining over 8,400 retweets (shown below, left). The same day, Instagram meme maker adam.the.creator^[8] posted an image including Luciano in a “All the memes of September” collage (shown below, right).