Cheeki Breeki

2007catchphraseclassic

"Cheeki Breeki" is a Russian catchphrase pulled from the 2007 first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where Bandit faction NPCs shout it during combat1. The line spun off into hardbass remix videos, dancing edits, and years of fan parodies that turned a throwaway game quote into shorthand for goofy Slavic energy online2.

catchphrase memesgamingvideo game music memesmashup video memesdance memes

Overview

The catchphrase is a shortening of the full Russian line "А ну, чики-брики и в дамки!" (A nu chiki-briki i v damki), spoken by Bandit NPCs in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. survival horror series, which loosely translates to a checkers metaphor about crowning a king, roughly "one, two, you're on top" (translated from Russian)2.

Fans latched onto the funny-sounding Russian phrase and the Bandits' broadcast chanson music, splicing them with hardbass tracks and clips of Russians dancing in tracksuits1. That squatting-adidas visual, paired with the phrase, is what most people picture when they hear "Cheeki Breeki" today.

How It Spread

On December 12, 2011, YouTuber TheIronTyrant uploaded a video called "Meet The Bandits," pairing footage of Russians dancing with Bandit voice lines from the game, including "Cheeki Breeki"1. The video pushed the quote out of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fandom and into wider gaming circles, racking up around 2.9 million views before the original upload was taken down.

On July 28, 2012, an image explaining the phrase started circulating on 4chan's /vg/ board, and a Tumblr reaction image referencing it followed that October3. By June 19, 2015, Urban Dictionary user Chairman Moka wrote a definition breaking down the checkers metaphor and pointing readers to the dancing video, and the entry picked up more than 890 upvotes over the next two years2.

YouTuber apartje uploaded the "Cheeki Breeki Hardbass Anthem" in October 2015, welding game audio to a hard techno beat, and the video was viewed more than 7.9 million times1. On January 11, 2016, Life of Boris released the first in a series of edits layering apartje's remix over the "Meet The Bandits" footage, which drew another 2.7 million views within about a year and a half3.

How to Use This Meme

People typically pair the "Cheeki Breeki" phrase or its hardbass remix with clips of Russians dancing, gopnik squats, tracksuits, or other Slavic imagery. It's often used as a video caption, a soundtrack for edits, or a shouted callout during gaming streams tied to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. content1.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cheeki Breeki

2007catchphraseclassic

"Cheeki Breeki" is a Russian catchphrase pulled from the 2007 first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where Bandit faction NPCs shout it during combat1. The line spun off into hardbass remix videos, dancing edits, and years of fan parodies that turned a throwaway game quote into shorthand for goofy Slavic energy online2.

catchphrase memes gaming video game music memes mashup video memes dance memes

Overview

The catchphrase is a shortening of the full Russian line "А ну, чики-брики и в дамки!" (A nu chiki-briki i v damki), spoken by Bandit NPCs in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. survival horror series, which loosely translates to a checkers metaphor about crowning a king, roughly "one, two, you're on top" (translated from Russian)2.

Fans latched onto the funny-sounding Russian phrase and the Bandits' broadcast chanson music, splicing them with hardbass tracks and clips of Russians dancing in tracksuits1. That squatting-adidas visual, paired with the phrase, is what most people picture when they hear "Cheeki Breeki" today.

How It Spread

On December 12, 2011, YouTuber TheIronTyrant uploaded a video called "Meet The Bandits," pairing footage of Russians dancing with Bandit voice lines from the game, including "Cheeki Breeki"1. The video pushed the quote out of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fandom and into wider gaming circles, racking up around 2.9 million views before the original upload was taken down.

On July 28, 2012, an image explaining the phrase started circulating on 4chan's /vg/ board, and a Tumblr reaction image referencing it followed that October3. By June 19, 2015, Urban Dictionary user Chairman Moka wrote a definition breaking down the checkers metaphor and pointing readers to the dancing video, and the entry picked up more than 890 upvotes over the next two years2.

YouTuber apartje uploaded the "Cheeki Breeki Hardbass Anthem" in October 2015, welding game audio to a hard techno beat, and the video was viewed more than 7.9 million times1. On January 11, 2016, Life of Boris released the first in a series of edits layering apartje's remix over the "Meet The Bandits" footage, which drew another 2.7 million views within about a year and a half3.

How to Use This Meme

People typically pair the "Cheeki Breeki" phrase or its hardbass remix with clips of Russians dancing, gopnik squats, tracksuits, or other Slavic imagery. It's often used as a video caption, a soundtrack for edits, or a shouted callout during gaming streams tied to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. content1.

Frequently Asked Questions