Azealia Banks "Are You Ready To Die?"

About

Azealia Banks "Are You Ready To Die?" is a viral Instagram Story post by rapper Azealia Banks featuring a black background with white text that reads, "Are you ready to die Claire?" The "Claire" in question is purportedly musician Grimes. The post was made in September 2021 and gained viral spread online, becoming an exploitable meme format and phrasal template in which the name "Claire" is changed for comedic effect. Banks purportedly posted a Story reading "Are you ready to die Brad Pitt?" around a year after posting the original.

Origin

On September 5th, 2021, Azealia Banks posted a series of Instagram Stories. One post is white text reading "are you ready to die claire?" over a black background. A screenshot of the Story was posted to the GaGaDaily^[1] forums that day (shown below, left). On September 6th, a Redditor posted screenshots to /r/playboicarti^[2] of several other of Azealia Banks' Stories, including one that reads, "are you ready to die Brad Pitt?" the user writing, "Bro what is going on in this chick head," garnering over 2,500 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

Spread

On September 8th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @evakhahar posted a photoshop of the post that replaces the name with "Slavoj Žižek," garnering over 14,200 likes in two years (shown below). On October 31st, 2022, a Redditor posted a version about James Corden to /r/h3h3productions,^[4] garnering over 1,400 upvotes in nine months. On November 4th, a photoshopped version about Drake was posted to KTT2.^[5]

On June 21st, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @AzealiaNews posted a version of the meme about the OceanGate submarine, garnering over 1,900 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). On June 30th, Twitter^[7] user @EwdatsGROSS posted a version replacing the name with "supreme court," garnering over 115,000 likes in just over a week (shown below, right). On July 6th, Twitter^[8] user @ianetjackson posted a version of the meme in response to a tweet about Britney Spears getting slapped, garnering over 2,300 likes in four days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References