Drakeposting

2015Exploitable image macro / reaction imageclassic

Also known as: Drake Approves · Drake Hotline Bling · Drake Yes/No

Drakeposting is a 2015 two-panel image macro featuring Canadian rapper Drake's expressions from his "Hotline Bling" music video, used to contrast rejection and approval in one of the internet's most versatile meme formats.

Drakeposting is a meme format built from still frames of Canadian rapper Drake's 2015 music video for "Hotline Bling," where his exaggerated dance moves and facial expressions were isolated into reaction images and two-panel exploitables. The practice started on 4chan's boards in late 2015 before exploding across every major platform in early 20164. The "Drake Approves" two-panel template, showing Drake rejecting one thing and approving another, became one of the internet's most versatile and enduring meme formats1.

drake memespreference template memesmusic video memestwo panel memes2015 memes

TL;DR

Drakeposting is a meme format built from still frames of Canadian rapper Drake's 2015 music video for "Hotline Bling," where his exaggerated dance moves and facial expressions were isolated into reaction images and two-panel exploitables.

Overview

The core Drakeposting format uses two stacked panels taken from the "Hotline Bling" music video. In the top panel, Drake holds his hand up with a disgusted expression, signaling rejection. In the bottom panel, he points and smiles approvingly4. Users label each panel with contrasting options to express a preference, making it one of the simplest and most adaptable meme templates ever created.

Beyond the two-panel exploitable, "Drakeposting" also refers more broadly to posting any Drake reaction images from the same video, particularly on 4chan imageboards. The term originally described a shitposting trend where users would drop Drake screenshots into unrelated threads, similar to how Costanza.jpg was used before it4.

The source material comes from Drake's music video for "Hotline Bling," released in 2015. The video features Drake performing a series of distinctive dance moves and gestures against colorful backdrops. One particular moment caught the internet's eye: Drake holding his hand up to the side of his face while looking visibly disgusted4.

That pose was quickly screenshotted and turned into a reaction image. It first appeared on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, with the earliest known reaction image use traced to a thread about first-person shooter games posted on October 31st, 20154. The term "Drakeposting" itself actually predates the Hotline Bling meme. It was first used on 4chan's /fit/ (fitness) board on May 4th, 2015, referring to general discussions about Drake on the site2.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (meme format), YouTube (source material from "Hotline Bling" music video)
Key People
Unknown, Drake
Date
2015
Year
2015

The source material comes from Drake's music video for "Hotline Bling," released in 2015. The video features Drake performing a series of distinctive dance moves and gestures against colorful backdrops. One particular moment caught the internet's eye: Drake holding his hand up to the side of his face while looking visibly disgusted.

That pose was quickly screenshotted and turned into a reaction image. It first appeared on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, with the earliest known reaction image use traced to a thread about first-person shooter games posted on October 31st, 2015. The term "Drakeposting" itself actually predates the Hotline Bling meme. It was first used on 4chan's /fit/ (fitness) board on May 4th, 2015, referring to general discussions about Drake on the site.

How It Spread

January 2016 was when Drakeposting went from scattered reaction images to a full-blown trend across 4chan. The practice spread rapidly between boards: /mu/ (music) on January 3rd, /int/ (international) on January 5th, /v/ (video games) on January 8th, and /g/ (technology) on January 16th. Between January and March 2016, the term "drakeposting" appeared in hundreds of independently archived discussion threads across the site.

The trend's growing presence on 4chan sparked meta-discussions on related communities. Sheeky Forums, a 4chan-affiliated community, saw user TechHater asking about Drakeposting's popularity on January 30th, 2016. By February 22nd, another Sheeky Forums user started a survey asking members their favorite Drake songs in a thread titled "Now that Drake is officially vidya related Sheeky Forums culture". On Reddit's /r/4chan, user Bobbistef mentioned Drakeposting on February 2nd while discussing the arrival of the Pacha meme from Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, suggesting the two formats were competing for attention at the same time.

As the format moved beyond 4chan, the two-panel "approve/disapprove" version became the dominant form. The template was dead simple: put something bad or uncool in the top panel next to disgusted Drake, put something good or preferred in the bottom panel next to approving Drake. This simplicity made it one of the most widely replicated meme formats across Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook.

By late 2016 and into 2017, the format had saturated every corner of the internet. Then Drake stepped back from the headlines for a stretch. When he returned in early 2018 with the viral video for "God's Plan," where he spent his million-dollar music video budget on giveaways to strangers, Drake was back in the cultural conversation, and new Drakeposting variants followed.

How to Use This Meme

The standard Drakeposting format works like this:

1

Start with two panels stacked vertically

2

The top panel shows Drake looking away with his hand up (the rejection pose). Label it with the thing you're dismissing or consider inferior

3

The bottom panel shows Drake pointing and smiling (the approval pose). Label it with the thing you prefer or consider superior

4

The humor comes from the contrast. The rejected option is typically the "correct" or expected choice, while the approved option is often absurd, lazy, or oddly specific

Cultural Impact

Drakeposting's two-panel format became a foundational meme template that influenced how people express preferences online. The "reject/approve" structure was so intuitive that it spawned countless derivatives using the same layout with different characters.

Drake himself leaned into his meme status. The Daily Dot described him as "a meme god ever since he dropped the video for Hotline Bling," noting that the approve/disapprove format was "the most iconic Drake meme". The format's longevity outlasted most memes from the same era, with new waves of content appearing whenever Drake made news.

Fun Facts

The word "Drakeposting" was coined five months before the Hotline Bling video even made the term famous, originally just meaning "posting about Drake" on /fit/.

Twitter user @aardvarkwizard posted a tweet capturing a real cat in the exact Drake approve/reject pose the day before Cat Drake memes blew up in February 2018. "It just makes sense because cats are just as contrary and happy about it as meme Drake," they explained.

Cat Drake's resurgence in 2018 coincided with Drake's "God's Plan" video going viral, which put him back in the public eye after a quiet stretch.

The meme spread across at least five different 4chan boards in the span of two weeks during January 2016.

Derivatives & Variations

Cat Drake:

On December 15th, 2016, Instagram user @yisucrist posted a photoshopped version with a black cat's head on Drake's body, choosing between a cat toy and a cat box. It picked up over 32,000 likes[4]. The format fully broke out on February 22nd, 2018, when Twitter user @DustyFotter posted a version with a white cat choosing a cardboard box over a cat bed, earning 12,000 retweets and 28,000 likes in four days[4]. Reddit user JM-Rie posted a variation the same day on /r/memes featuring a cat choosing a keyboard over a cat bed, which hit 27,000 upvotes[1].

Pacha Posting:

The Pacha meme from The Emperor's New Groove emerged around the same time as Drakeposting's peak in early 2016, using a similar approval gesture format. Reddit users noted the overlap between the two templates[4].

Character Swaps:

Countless versions replaced Drake with other figures (Winnie the Pooh in a tuxedo, various anime characters, historical figures) while keeping the identical two-panel reject/approve layout.

Frequently Asked Questions

Drakeposting

2015Exploitable image macro / reaction imageclassic

Also known as: Drake Approves · Drake Hotline Bling · Drake Yes/No

Drakeposting is a 2015 two-panel image macro featuring Canadian rapper Drake's expressions from his "Hotline Bling" music video, used to contrast rejection and approval in one of the internet's most versatile meme formats.

Drakeposting is a meme format built from still frames of Canadian rapper Drake's 2015 music video for "Hotline Bling," where his exaggerated dance moves and facial expressions were isolated into reaction images and two-panel exploitables. The practice started on 4chan's boards in late 2015 before exploding across every major platform in early 2016. The "Drake Approves" two-panel template, showing Drake rejecting one thing and approving another, became one of the internet's most versatile and enduring meme formats.

drake memes preference template memes music video memes two panel memes 2015 memes

TL;DR

Drakeposting is a meme format built from still frames of Canadian rapper Drake's 2015 music video for "Hotline Bling," where his exaggerated dance moves and facial expressions were isolated into reaction images and two-panel exploitables.

Overview

The core Drakeposting format uses two stacked panels taken from the "Hotline Bling" music video. In the top panel, Drake holds his hand up with a disgusted expression, signaling rejection. In the bottom panel, he points and smiles approvingly. Users label each panel with contrasting options to express a preference, making it one of the simplest and most adaptable meme templates ever created.

Beyond the two-panel exploitable, "Drakeposting" also refers more broadly to posting any Drake reaction images from the same video, particularly on 4chan imageboards. The term originally described a shitposting trend where users would drop Drake screenshots into unrelated threads, similar to how Costanza.jpg was used before it.

The source material comes from Drake's music video for "Hotline Bling," released in 2015. The video features Drake performing a series of distinctive dance moves and gestures against colorful backdrops. One particular moment caught the internet's eye: Drake holding his hand up to the side of his face while looking visibly disgusted.

That pose was quickly screenshotted and turned into a reaction image. It first appeared on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, with the earliest known reaction image use traced to a thread about first-person shooter games posted on October 31st, 2015. The term "Drakeposting" itself actually predates the Hotline Bling meme. It was first used on 4chan's /fit/ (fitness) board on May 4th, 2015, referring to general discussions about Drake on the site.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (meme format), YouTube (source material from "Hotline Bling" music video)
Key People
Unknown, Drake
Date
2015
Year
2015

The source material comes from Drake's music video for "Hotline Bling," released in 2015. The video features Drake performing a series of distinctive dance moves and gestures against colorful backdrops. One particular moment caught the internet's eye: Drake holding his hand up to the side of his face while looking visibly disgusted.

That pose was quickly screenshotted and turned into a reaction image. It first appeared on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, with the earliest known reaction image use traced to a thread about first-person shooter games posted on October 31st, 2015. The term "Drakeposting" itself actually predates the Hotline Bling meme. It was first used on 4chan's /fit/ (fitness) board on May 4th, 2015, referring to general discussions about Drake on the site.

How It Spread

January 2016 was when Drakeposting went from scattered reaction images to a full-blown trend across 4chan. The practice spread rapidly between boards: /mu/ (music) on January 3rd, /int/ (international) on January 5th, /v/ (video games) on January 8th, and /g/ (technology) on January 16th. Between January and March 2016, the term "drakeposting" appeared in hundreds of independently archived discussion threads across the site.

The trend's growing presence on 4chan sparked meta-discussions on related communities. Sheeky Forums, a 4chan-affiliated community, saw user TechHater asking about Drakeposting's popularity on January 30th, 2016. By February 22nd, another Sheeky Forums user started a survey asking members their favorite Drake songs in a thread titled "Now that Drake is officially vidya related Sheeky Forums culture". On Reddit's /r/4chan, user Bobbistef mentioned Drakeposting on February 2nd while discussing the arrival of the Pacha meme from Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, suggesting the two formats were competing for attention at the same time.

As the format moved beyond 4chan, the two-panel "approve/disapprove" version became the dominant form. The template was dead simple: put something bad or uncool in the top panel next to disgusted Drake, put something good or preferred in the bottom panel next to approving Drake. This simplicity made it one of the most widely replicated meme formats across Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook.

By late 2016 and into 2017, the format had saturated every corner of the internet. Then Drake stepped back from the headlines for a stretch. When he returned in early 2018 with the viral video for "God's Plan," where he spent his million-dollar music video budget on giveaways to strangers, Drake was back in the cultural conversation, and new Drakeposting variants followed.

How to Use This Meme

The standard Drakeposting format works like this:

1

Start with two panels stacked vertically

2

The top panel shows Drake looking away with his hand up (the rejection pose). Label it with the thing you're dismissing or consider inferior

3

The bottom panel shows Drake pointing and smiling (the approval pose). Label it with the thing you prefer or consider superior

4

The humor comes from the contrast. The rejected option is typically the "correct" or expected choice, while the approved option is often absurd, lazy, or oddly specific

Cultural Impact

Drakeposting's two-panel format became a foundational meme template that influenced how people express preferences online. The "reject/approve" structure was so intuitive that it spawned countless derivatives using the same layout with different characters.

Drake himself leaned into his meme status. The Daily Dot described him as "a meme god ever since he dropped the video for Hotline Bling," noting that the approve/disapprove format was "the most iconic Drake meme". The format's longevity outlasted most memes from the same era, with new waves of content appearing whenever Drake made news.

Fun Facts

The word "Drakeposting" was coined five months before the Hotline Bling video even made the term famous, originally just meaning "posting about Drake" on /fit/.

Twitter user @aardvarkwizard posted a tweet capturing a real cat in the exact Drake approve/reject pose the day before Cat Drake memes blew up in February 2018. "It just makes sense because cats are just as contrary and happy about it as meme Drake," they explained.

Cat Drake's resurgence in 2018 coincided with Drake's "God's Plan" video going viral, which put him back in the public eye after a quiet stretch.

The meme spread across at least five different 4chan boards in the span of two weeks during January 2016.

Derivatives & Variations

Cat Drake:

On December 15th, 2016, Instagram user @yisucrist posted a photoshopped version with a black cat's head on Drake's body, choosing between a cat toy and a cat box. It picked up over 32,000 likes[4]. The format fully broke out on February 22nd, 2018, when Twitter user @DustyFotter posted a version with a white cat choosing a cardboard box over a cat bed, earning 12,000 retweets and 28,000 likes in four days[4]. Reddit user JM-Rie posted a variation the same day on /r/memes featuring a cat choosing a keyboard over a cat bed, which hit 27,000 upvotes[1].

Pacha Posting:

The Pacha meme from The Emperor's New Groove emerged around the same time as Drakeposting's peak in early 2016, using a similar approval gesture format. Reddit users noted the overlap between the two templates[4].

Character Swaps:

Countless versions replaced Drake with other figures (Winnie the Pooh in a tuxedo, various anime characters, historical figures) while keeping the identical two-panel reject/approve layout.

Frequently Asked Questions