When You Going Band for Band With X and They Pull Out Y

Submission 6,868

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About

When You Going Band for Band With X and They Pull Out Y refers to a phrasal template that uses the slang term "band for band," meaning the act of two people comparing how many "bands" of money they possess with a band equaling $1,000 of $100 bills held together in a bank's rubber band. Memes using the phrasal template, in which they replaced "X" with the subject and "Y" with what item the subject surprisingly pulled out, trended in memes on TikTok, Twitter / X and Instagram in 2023 and 2024. The original meme template showed a black-and-white image of a sad dog looking at the viewer, reading, "When U Goin Band 4 Band Wit X and U Got 1 Left While He Pull Out Y."

Origin

The earliest known viral post using the phrase "band for band" was a meme showing a sad dog (originally posted on Getty Images^[1]) with a top caption reading, "when u goin band 4 band wit a nigga and u got 1 left while he pull out 5 more" (shown below). The meme's original creator is currently unknown. However, its earliest known post was shared by Instagram^[2] user @medianlethalcumload on July 21st, 2022, gaining 43 likes in two years.

Spread

Soon after, in July 2022, others online started using "band for band" in memes. For instance, on July 26th, 2022, X^[3] user @tunesintern tweeted, "fuck goin band for band who tryna go inch for inch 👀," receiving over 460 likes in two years (shown below).

On March 16th, 2023, X^[4] user @jedwill captioned The Only Frame In The Whale with, "when you going band for band and they still going," receiving roughly 1,000 likes in 11 months (shown below, left).

On March 18th, 2023, X^[5] user @thebigkhalifa used the sad dog template in a viral quote that replaced the subject's name with "Jesus," gaining over 15,000 likes in 11 months (shown below, right).

Later in 2023, the "When you going band for band with X" phrasal template trended in memes on TikTok. For instance, on September 14th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @6.4thuqq posted a video about his "band for band" opponent donating money to him out of pity, gaining over 669,100 plays and 134,300 likes in five months (shown below, left).

On November 29th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @dewhiteballzach posted a meme about going band for band but being broke, receiving over 50,700 likes in three months (shown below, right).

In February 2024, a slew of viral "band for band" memes surfaced on TikTok. For instance, on February 6th, 2024, TikToker^[8] @relatable.tay posted a video that roughly followed the Duke Dennis 'Hard' format, reading, "when u going band for band wit bro and he pulls out a picture of him in a happy relationship (im cooked)," gaining over 778,500 plays and 167,100 likes in five days (shown below, left).

On February 9th, 2024, TikToker^[9] @offical_dipyoson posted a similar video featuring Lil B crying, gaining over 2.9 million plays and 670,900 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Similar memes surfaced on other sites in February 2024. For instance, X^[10] user @OvOBrezzzy posted a similar Lil B crying meme on February 10th, 2024, reading, "When you going band for band with your boy and he pulls out a pic of him and his girl happy (I lost)," receiving over 6,000 likes in a day (shown below).