He had to do it to em: In search of 'Lucky Luciano' 10 years after meme

December 23, 2024 10:23 AM

A surprisingly emotional, soulful and wholesome journalistic profile of the then-17-year-old kid whose photo captioned "I had to do it to em" became one of the weirdest viral memes ever. Ten years later, in his first interview ever, Lachborne "Lucky" Bachkhaz returns to the Florida sidewalk where it all started (and where fans still show up, neighbors said), creating a bittersweet and nostalgic moment. He also recreated the photo, doing the same weird pose. Apparently his dream is for you to follow him on Instagram lol
posted by spata (15 comments total)

Ungated link right here.
posted by heyitsgogi at 11:19 AM on December 23, 2024 [1 favorite]

Luciano has improved with time.
posted by chavenet at 11:27 AM on December 23, 2024 [1 favorite]

Yeah, it’s good that he’s put that “you can’t arrest me, my dad’s a lawyer” look behind him.
posted by mhoye at 11:52 AM on December 23, 2024

I had somehow never seen this picture or any of the memes before.
posted by maryellenreads at 12:16 PM on December 23, 2024 [12 favorites]

Same - never saw the original, never heard of it. It's so...normal, and yet took such an unusual turn. Interesting article, glad the author finally found him. I wish him the best. And yet I still wonder - "had to do it to em" - I read the article, but don't recall seeing any explanation for the phrase.
posted by davidmsc at 1:13 PM on December 23, 2024 [1 favorite]

davidmsc: I read the article, but don't recall seeing any explanation for the phrase

It's sort of self-explanatory if you were really plugged into Gen Z meme culture (I'm solidly Millennial but, I'll admit it, I was reading a lot of Buzzfeed articles 10 years ago) - it means more or less "I know, I know - I look so good that everyone who saw me took psychic damage". And to use another Gen Z-ism, it's a phrase that still lives rent-free in my head!
posted by capricorn at 1:42 PM on December 23, 2024 [2 favorites]

Up until now I'd assumed that it was a reference to some movie or TV show or something that I just hadn't seen, and that picture was some kid recreating a shot of someone more famous, as if there was a scene with that shot and some character bragging to the camera that he "had to do it to 'em". The fact that it's not a reference at all and I'm not missing something after all — yeah, now I can see the humor in it.
posted by wanderingmind at 2:36 PM on December 23, 2024 [4 favorites]

it means more or less "I know, I know - I look so good that everyone who saw me took psychic damage".

Nope, still don't get it.

I grow old, I grow old....
posted by BWA at 4:12 PM on December 23, 2024 [3 favorites]

Yeah wow this is completely incomprehensible to me. Typically when I find a new piece of slang or meme I've never heard of, I just look it up on Urban Dictionary or Know Your Meme and be done with it. But the KYM page on this contains no useful explaination of this, what it means, or why it was a thing. It just kinda treats this whole thing as if its meaning should be self-evident.

This NY Mag article is a little more helpful, but I'm still a bit flummoxed. It's just a dude standing on a street? How is that a meme?

What's worse is this all happened like 5 years ago, so not only am I out of it, I'm really out of it. Thing is, I'm not usually that out of it. Like things sometimes take a while to get to me, but when they do, I usually have some way of understanding them. This? Nothing. Just ... nothing.

Can anybody help me here? What was this meme was all about, why did it become a thing, and why am I having such a hard time understanding it? What is the subculture I'm not a part of that would have helped me understand this?
posted by panama joe at 5:41 PM on December 23, 2024 [1 favorite]

Once you were the 12 year old who programmed your grandma's VCR clock, now you're getting memes explained to you

"Same as it ever was"
posted by ginger.beef at 5:59 PM on December 23, 2024 [5 favorites]

This one is weird because usually I can understand the meme with like a little bit of explanation. This may be the first time I'm just drawing a total blank. Maybe because I've never heard the expression before "I had to do it to 'em"? Was this ever a common phrase anywhere (before it became a meme)?
posted by panama joe at 6:11 PM on December 23, 2024

In 1976, Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, which, among many other firsts, coined the term "meme." Even today, the author lauds the current vernacular use of the neologism. To paraphrase his sentiment on the common usage, "it's not wrong."

I don't get this shit either. I'm old as my tongue and just a little older than my teeth. I bristle when people call the Sponge Monkeys those quiznos guys, as if they knew nothing of the moon*. The creation of intentionally disposable culture means you get replaced by more, not less, disposable culture.

Or to quote the Futurist Manifesto:

But we shall not be there. They will find us at last one winter's night in the depths of
the country in a sad hangar echoing with the notes of the monotonous rain, crouched
near our trembling aeroplanes, warming our hands at the wretched fire which our
books of today will make when they flame gaily beneath the glittering flight of their
pictures.

*QhotheDavid Berman, "the moon,Iforgot to mention the fucking moon"
posted by es_de_bah at 7:14 PM on December 23, 2024 [1 favorite]

I do remember this and loved it, happy to see he’s doing ok!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:36 AM on December 24, 2024

BWA: Nope, still don't get it.

OK, how about: "It should be illegal to look this good"? And it's funny because he looks dorky in a cute teenaged way?
posted by capricorn at 8:47 PM on December 24, 2024

if I could be, for just an hour a day, cute! cute! in a stupid-ass way.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:52 AM on January 13