The Druski meme, aka the “Druski hands up” meme, is an image from a comedic video made by Drew Dawit Desbordes, better known as Druski, with his hands in the air. Social media users captured a screenshot from one of the online comedian’s famous videos posted in 2021 and began using it to accompany honest answers to tough or touchy questions.
People may also use the exploitable meme as a wordless response, either as a reaction or simply to answer a question that they posed for comedic purposes.
Who is Druski?
Druski began his career as an internet comedian in 2017 on Instagram under the name Druski2funny, later shortened to its current form. He spread his presence to Twitter and YouTube and began to achieve meme-level fame in the early 2020s with his online sketch videos.
The comedian makes his videos primarily for a Black audience, poking fun at certain aspects of Black culture or common experiences within the community. As his fame grew, he collaborated with hip hop artists including Drake, Lil Yachty, and Jack Harlow, and eventually launched his own record label under the name Coulda Been Records.
In 2021, the same year the Druski hands up meme went viral, he partnered with Adidas alongside Diddy to produce the series Sneakin’ In With Druski. He then launched his entertainment company 4lifers in 2023.
Other memes associated with Druski include the “what do you mean by that?” reaction from an Instagram Live clip from 2020 and what is known as the Druski shrug that social media users can often see alongside the statement “personally, I wouldn’t let that slide.”
Druski hands up meme origin
The biggest Druski meme of 2021 came from a video posted to Twitter on January 13 titled “That Institutionalized Family Member Pt.2.” In the sketch, Druski plays the formerly incarcerated man staying with a family member played by a friend of the comedian.
The screenshot used for the meme comes from the moment in the sketch where Druski’s family member asks about a collection of items placed on a storage container at the foot of his bed. These include toiletries one would be allowed in prison as well as a shank.
“What is you doing with a shank, bro?” the family member asks.
“You can never be too careful,” says Druski after putting his hands up.
Druski meme spread
As the video went viral, social media users, particularly on Instagram, began to use the hands up screenshot as an exploitable image to answer delicate questions or express opinions of any controversial level. These opinions could be about political topics or deal with difficult social issues, though it could be considered funnier to use them for issues that were hardly controversial at all.
The Druski hands up meme can still be found in social media posts in 2024 after gaining enough popularity to become widely recognized, though its use has slowed considerably from 2021.
Meme examples
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