808s

About

808s refers to a series of jokes and memes related to the term "808," which is a Roland TR-808 drum machine sound often used in hip-hop, R&B and trap music. The term was turned into internet slang in August 2024 on TikTok to mock the new generation of rappers and trappers who overuse the 808 soundtracks in their songs.

Origin

Although it is unclear when the exact first usage of "808s" as a slang term appeared, one of the earliest found posts using the term in comedic content was uploaded on July 31st, 2024, by TikTok^[1] user @prodpoodee, who added the text "Conversating with the '808s' like" while doing drum sounds with his mouth. The video (seen below) amassed more than 135,000 plays and 18,000 likes in a month.

Spread

On August 7th, 2024, TikTok^[2] user @deaun2x replied to a user asking "What are 808s," to which he replied sarcastically adding the Roland TR-808 drum machine sound on top of his answer. The video (seen below) amassed more than 700,000 plays and 9,000 likes in two weeks.

On August 6th, 2024, TikTok^[3] user @auxmit posted an 808s beat using Tuco's Get Out Scream meme (seen below), which amassed more than 880,000 plays and 125,000 plays in two weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References