# 21 Kid The 21 Kid is an internet meme originating from a 2013 Vine video in which a man asks a young boy "What's 9+10?" and the boy confidently answers "21." The clip spawned countless remixes, parodies, and a massive cultural moment on September 10th, 2021 (9/10/21), when the internet collectively celebrated the date when "9+10 really equals 21." It's one of Vine's most enduring exports and a defining meme of the early-to-mid 2010s. ## Origin On June 22nd, 2013, Vine user @DREHUPEMSU (also known as @WESTROSECRAN) posted the original video[3]. The clip shows a brief exchange between a man and a young boy, with the punchline being the boy's incorrect answer of "21" to the question "What's 9+10?" Within its lifetime on Vine, the video racked up over 30 million loops, 707,000 likes, and 605,000 revines[3]. The identity of the child in the video has never been officially confirmed, though he became widely known as "The 21 Kid"[3]. - **Platform:** Vine (source video), YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** @DREHUPEMSU (original Vine poster), Unknown boy (subject, nicknamed "The 21 Kid") - **Date:** 2013 ## Overview The meme centers on a short Vine clip where an off-camera man tells a young boy that he's "stupid." The boy denies it, so the man quizzes him: "What's 9+10?" The boy instantly replies "21," and the man repeats his original claim[3]. The comedic core is simple: a kid confidently getting basic math wrong while insisting he's not dumb. That six-second loop became one of Vine's most replayed clips and generated a whole ecosystem of remixes, song mashups, and eventually a quasi-holiday built around the date 9/10/21. ## How It Spread The first notable remix came from Vine user BRUH, who posted an edited version that pulled in 7.14 million loops, 185,000 likes, and 145,000 revines[3]. After the original Vine was deleted, YouTube re-uploads kept the meme alive. On July 7th, 2014, Alondra Morelos uploaded the clip to YouTube, and two days later YouTuber Shadow Subscribe posted another copy[3]. By December 2014, these uploads had collected over 9.4 million combined views[3]. The meme's biggest early boost came on August 29th, 2014, when YouTube user SwiftStar352 uploaded a mashup of the Vine audio with Bobby Shmurda's "Hot Nigga," one of the biggest songs in the country at the time[3]. That remix hit 14.6 million views and 108,000 likes before being taken down[3]. On October 13th, 2014, parody site Huzlers published a hoax article claiming the 21 Kid had run away from home, complete with a fake goodbye note[3]. The story fooled users across message boards including IGN[3]. YouTuber WavyWebSurf later confirmed elements of the kid's identity in a video and posted a deep-dive into the hoax on October 3rd, 2020, which pulled over 3.7 million views within a year[3]. ### 2019 Resurgence In summer 2019, the meme saw a second wave across Twitter, iFunny, and Instagram[3]. "Not Funny, Didn't Laugh" edits featuring stills from the original Vine started circulating in April 2019[3]. On July 1st, Twitter user @Timotainment posted a Donkey Kong-themed edit that hit 413,000 views and over 46,100 likes in a month[3]. Through July 2019, creators like @Zenkho_, @TunnelingOG, professionalretard.mp4, and yupanthony all posted popular variations across multiple platforms[3]. ### 9/10/21: Judgment Day The meme's biggest cultural moment arrived in 2021. In January, a Twitter account called @twentyonecount began a daily countdown to September 10th, 2021, the date when "9+10 really equals 21"[3]. By September 9th, the account had nearly 98,000 followers[3]. The final countdown tweet on September 9th pulled 51,000 likes and 7,500 retweets in eight hours[3]. At midnight on September 10th, @twentyonecount posted "TODAY IS 9/10/21" alongside a video edit by @_Tax_Payer_, earning over 110,000 likes and 32,000 retweets within a day[3]. The account pushed the hashtag #nineten21, which quickly hit Twitter's trending page[3]. Instagram pages like @spoobydoo posted "Judgment Day" edits featuring the 21 Kid looming over cityscapes (46,000 likes), while @grandmas.butt posted a meme about the kid manifesting in their room that hit 160,000 views in 11 hours[3]. Social media users changed their profile pictures to the 21 Kid en masse, and tribute videos from accounts like @salad.snake and @repostrandy each pulled over 88,000 and 151,000 views respectively[3]. Urban Dictionary entries from the period reflect the hype, with users describing the kid as "a god among us" who would "decide the world's fate every 9/10/21"[2]. ## How to Use The 21 Kid meme typically appears in a few formats: 1. **Direct quote/reference**: Simply dropping "21" as an answer to any math-related question, or captioning an image with the "What's 9+10?" exchange. 2. **Audio remixes**: Taking the original Vine audio and mashing it with popular songs or other meme sounds. The Bobby Shmurda remix set the template for this approach[3]. 3. **Video edits**: Splicing the 21 Kid into unrelated footage, often as a punchline or reaction. The 2019 wave popularized "Not Funny, Didn't Laugh" and "Awesome, He Finally" formats using stills from the Vine[3]. 4. **Date-based jokes**: Any reference to the number 21, or specifically 9/10 as a date, often invokes the meme. The September 10th, 2021 event showed this at its peak[3]. ## Cultural Impact The 9/10/21 event turned a Vine-era inside joke into something closer to an internet holiday. The @twentyonecount account's months-long countdown created anticipation that crossed platform boundaries, with Twitter, Instagram, and iFunny all participating in the celebration[3]. The hashtag #nineten21 trended on Twitter, and the collective profile picture change showed how a simple math joke could mobilize coordinated internet action[3]. The meme also generated a notable misinformation moment when the 2014 Huzlers hoax convinced users on IGN and other forums that the 21 Kid had actually run away[3]. WavyWebSurf's 2020 debunking video drew millions of views, showing sustained interest in the meme's backstory years after the original Vine[3]. The 6-7 meme, which went viral in 2025 through a similarly aged "kid" figure (the "67 Kid"), drew direct comparisons to the 21 Kid format, with both featuring young boys and numerical catchphrases that spread through sports and school culture[1]. ## Fun Facts - The original Vine accumulated over 30 million loops before being deleted, making it one of the platform's most-watched clips[3]. - The Huzlers hoax article about the 21 Kid running away fooled multiple gaming forums in 2014[3]. - On September 10th, 2021, thousands of social media users simultaneously changed their profile pictures to the 21 Kid[3]. - The child's real identity was never officially disclosed publicly, though YouTuber WavyWebSurf claimed to have confirmed it[3]. - The 6-7 meme that went viral in 2025 followed a strikingly similar pattern: a young kid, a number, and school/sports culture driving the spread[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the 21 Kid meme? The 21 Kid meme comes from a 2013 Vine video where a boy incorrectly answers "21" when asked "What's 9+10?" The clip became one of Vine's most-looped videos and spawned years of remixes and edits[3]. ### Where did the 21 Kid meme come from? Vine user @DREHUPEMSU posted the original clip on June 22nd, 2013[3]. It spread to YouTube in 2014 after the original Vine was deleted. ### What does the 21 Kid meme mean? The humor comes from a kid confidently giving a wrong math answer while insisting he isn't stupid. It's used to joke about being confidently incorrect or to reference the number 21 in absurd contexts[3][2]. ### How do you use the 21 Kid meme? Common uses include quoting the "What's 9+10?" exchange, remixing the audio with popular songs, or making video edits that splice the kid into other content[3]. ### Is the 21 Kid meme still popular? The meme peaked on September 10th, 2021, when the internet celebrated "9/10/21" as the day the math finally checked out. It's now a classic Vine-era meme that gets periodic revivals[3]. ### Who is the 21 Kid? The boy's real identity was never officially disclosed. He's been referred to simply as "The 21 Kid" since the Vine went viral in 2013, though YouTuber WavyWebSurf claimed to have confirmed his identity[3]. ### What happened on September 10th, 2021? A Twitter account called @twentyonecount spent 237 days counting down to the date when "9+10 really equals 21." On the day itself, #nineten21 trended on Twitter, users changed profile pictures to the 21 Kid, and meme accounts posted tribute videos and edits[3]. ### Was the 21 Kid hoax real? No. In October 2014, parody site Huzlers published a fake article claiming the 21 Kid had run away from home. The hoax fooled users on IGN and other forums before being debunked[3]. ### What was the Bobby Shmurda 21 Kid remix? On August 29th, 2014, YouTube user SwiftStar352 mashed up the Vine audio with Bobby Shmurda's "Hot Nigga," which was a major hit at the time. The remix reached 14.6 million views[3]. ### How is the 21 Kid related to the 6-7 meme? Both memes feature young boys associated with specific numbers that spread through youth culture. The 6-7 meme, which went viral in 2025, followed a similar pattern of a kid's catchphrase spreading through schools and sports[1]. ## References 1. [6-7 meme]() 2. [21 Kid - Urban Dictionary]() 3. [21 Kid - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/21-kid Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library