What Does 'City Boy' Mean? The Slang Term And Meme Explained

Ever since Hot Girl Summer was proposed back in 2019, men have been looking for a type of summer they can call their own. Before White Boy Summer, one of the most notable attempts was City Boy Summer, a fairly toxic response to Hot Girl Summer that imagines a season where men act cold and mean-spirited to the women in their lives.

Now, the slang term City Boy is taking on its own life, particularly on TikTok, as a celebration of toxic masculinity. Here's a full explainer.

Where Does "City Boy" Come From?

In May 2019, Doja Cat inspired an outpouring of memes about summer 2019 being a "hot girl summer," a season where women celebrate female solidarity and looking good. A month later, men started to meme about a male-centric version of hot girl summer, "city boy summer."

Rather than focus on empowerment and solidarity, city boy summer inspired a lot of memes about treating women poorly or dismissively, including lots of jokes about cheating on your partner and pushing women aside in pursuit of a good time.

The city boy summer memes became more and more scarce until June 2022 when TikTokers brought it back without the "summer" part. They started using "city boy" on its own as slang, essentially used to define a man who doesn't let women get in the way of a good time or success.

An Urban Dictionary user popularly defined city boy as, "A male who is living his very best life and chasing the bag at all times without letting Hot Girls or any female get in the way."

How Is "City Boy" Used In Memes?

In 2022, TikTokers have taken to using city boy as a way to call out and often celebrate videos of men acting toxic, dismissive and poorly to women. This includes everything from videos of a dude at the gym telling a woman "f no" when she asks for his Snapchat name to men proudly admitting to cheating on their girlfriends.

Reaction memes celebrating the men are attached to the ends of the videos, including a scene from Gravity Falls where Deputy Durland yells, "City Boy! City Boy!" at the top of his lungs.

These videos became notably popular in June 2022 with the hashtags "#cityboy" and '#cityboys" gaining over 220 million and 300 million total views respectively.

Where Is "City Boy! City Boy!" From?

One of the most popular reaction videos in TikTok's city boy videos is a scene from Gravity Falls season one episode three, titled "Headhunters." In the scene, Deputy Durland mocks the idea of Dipper, a literal city boy, being able to solve a crime, yelling, "city boy! City boy!" at him. The scene has been reinterpreted as a reference to the slang term in these videos rather than literally meaning a boy from the city.

For the full details on City Boy, be sure to check out our entry on the meme here for even more information.