I Got 2 Phones / "2 Phones" by Kevin Gates

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About

I Got 2 Phones, also known as I Got Two Phones, refers to lyrics from the 2015 song "2 Phones" by Kevin Gates which became a trending TikTok meme in mid-2023 when meme creators added "hard" visuals (such as Gangster SpongeBob or Goku Drip) to edits with the song that interrupted subjectively cringe videos, most often of women with "man-hating" sentiments. The interruption, often called a "stitch" on the app, was similar to the precursor "I'm A.I. With the Braids" meme. The phrase "I got two phones" was often written in all caps with the speaking head emoji, appearing as "I GOT TWO PHONES 🗣️." Prior to TikTok, videos using the chorus lyrics from "2 Phones" were present on Vine, Triller and Musical.ly.

Origin

On November 5th, 2015, "2 Phones" by Kevin Gates was released as a single in anticipation of his album Isaiah, later becoming the album's third track.^[1] On January 1st, 2016, Gates uploaded the song's music video to YouTube,^[2] gaining roughly 335.3 million views and 2 million likes in seven years (shown below).

It's currently unknown where videos using "2 Phones" originated from, as discourse on X^[3]^[4] indicates origins from Vine. Reposted videos to YouTube^[5]^[6] also indicate usage on the apps Triller and Musical.ly (aka TikTok) in 2015 and 2016 (examples shown below). Additionally, a video of Stranger Things actor Dacre Montgomery dancing to the song with a friend resurfaced years later on TikTok,^[7] likely originating from a 2016 Vine.

Spread

An early parody of the song was uploaded by YouTuber^[8] Dave Farese Films on March 30th, 2016, gaining roughly 133,300 views and 1,300 likes in seven years (shown below).

Starting in 2019, videos on TikTok using "2 Phones" became more commonplace and viral. For instance, on June 16th, 2019, TikToker^[9] @danny.tommy posted a video with the sound that received roughly 516,200 plays and 51,700 likes in four years (shown below, left). On December 8th, 2020, TikToker^[10] @tresnaped posted a video with "2 Phones" that received roughly 6.8 million plays and 622,300 likes in three years (shown below, right).

2023 TikTok Trend

In 2023, videos using "2 Phones" became increasingly commonplace on TikTok, such as a video posted by TikToker^[11] @peestain24 on April 17th, 2023, which used a nonsensical CapCut template, gaining roughly 1.7 million plays and 300,900 likes in five months.

Despite the aforementioned videos and others using the sound, a verifiable trend didn't start until TikToker^[12] @_liimit_ posted a video on August 14th that stitched a video of a woman complaining about men with "2 Phones" and images of Dragon Ball characters. The video received roughly 1.6 million plays and 321,000 likes in one week (shown below, left). Also on August 14th, TikToker^[13] @doggycheesenut posted a similar video with SpongeBob characters, gaining roughly 224,400 plays and 35,200 likes in one week (shown below, right).

The aforementioned video was similar to a precursor video known as "I'm A.I. With the Braids" (YouTube^[14] upload shown below) that used the song "A.I. With The Braids" by The Game and Lil Wayne ^[15] paired with a video of a dog with "drip."

Going into August 2023, various TikTokers^[16]^[17] followed the same format, predominantly using videos of female influencers reiterating anti-male sentiments, among other videos that were subjectively cringy, such as the I'm Processing The Most Triggering Breakup I've Had In Nine Years video or the My Generation Got Our Driver's License at 14 video, among others.