We Tracked Down The Guy Behind The Best Meme Of 2016 And He's Been Laughing Nonstop
“It’s the internet. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I actually like it.”
By now, you must have seen or used this iconic expression — clipped, GIF'd, screencapped, photoshopped, memed —somewhere across your social media timelines. It's been dubbed the greatest meme of 2016.
The internet's favorite pursed-lips reaction GIF comes from a 2009 rap battle hosted by the Ultimate Rap League.
The battle was between rappers Jesse James and Conceited, a then-newcomer to the battling scene.
Conceited was irreverent through Jesse James' bars but made the notorious face when James tripped up over one of his words.
Giphy / youtube.com
BuzzFeed News tracked Conceited down, and had the absolute pleasure of discussing and, really, CTFU over, the genealogy of the meme and his unexpected fame. Meet 27-year-old Reggie Sergile.
Sergile, a Brooklyn native who now bounces between Miami and New York, was working as a server at Red Lobster for five years before his foray into battle-rapping when he was 20.
"I just got into it 'cause I was always a fan," he said of battling. "I was always watching them, and I knew I could really do this. At the time — and this sounded cocky — no one had my style. I was rapping punchline lines after lines after lines."
The battle with Jesse James was only his 4th match-up ever.
Sergile's said his exact thoughts when making the face to James after "he stumbled over a line" was, "Ohhh! Oh." He said a blunder like that in battle-rapping is reason enough to react to.
"It wasn't even close. I killed him," Sergile boasted of his win.
Reggie Sergile