# Kanye West Holding Notepad

> Kanye West Holding Notepad is a 2022 exploitable image macro featuring rapper Kanye West with a yellow legal pad, repurposed as a sign-holding meme template where users edit the notepad's message.

Kanye West Holding Notepad is an exploitable image macro based on a photo of rapper Kanye West holding up a yellow legal pad with the handwritten message "my account is not hacked 2 13 22." Posted to Instagram on February 13, 2022, during a chaotic posting spree about his divorce from Kim Kardashian and her relationship with Pete Davidson, the image was quickly deleted but not before the internet turned it into a sign-holding meme template where users edited the notepad to say anything they wanted[1].

## Origin
In early February 2022, Kanye West broke his usual social media silence with a rapid-fire series of Instagram posts. The posts targeted Pete Davidson, who was dating West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian, and included photoshopped images and emotional messages about his ongoing divorce[1]. The sheer volume and intensity of the posts led some fans to wonder if West's account had been compromised[2].

On February 13, 2022, West addressed the hacking concerns directly by posting two photos of himself holding a yellow legal pad with "my account is not hacked 2 13 22" written on it[3]. The caption, written in all caps, read: "My account is not hacked I will be at Sunday Service at noon and will me taking North and Saint to the Super Bowl shortly after"[1]. The post also called out SNL cast member Michael Che, who fired back on Instagram with his own series of notepad-written responses, picking up over 291,000 likes in a single day[3]. West deleted the original post shortly after publishing it, but screenshots had already spread[1].

- **Platform:** Instagram (original post), Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Kanye West (original photo/poster), @SeriousUnci (blank template edit)
- **Date:** 2022

## Overview
The meme uses a photograph of Kanye West holding up a yellow legal pad toward the camera. In the original image, the notepad reads "my account is not hacked" with the date "2 13 22" scrawled underneath[3]. West posted two versions of the photo: one showing his face and another where he's wearing a mask with his arm raised in the air[3]. The format works as a classic sign-holding exploitable where creators erase the original text and replace it with jokes, drawings, or absurd messages, making it look like Kanye himself wrote them[1].

## How It Spread
The meme moved fast. On the same day, February 13, Twitter user @PopBase reposted the images, collecting over 3,200 likes within 24 hours[3]. Also that day, @SeriousUnci posted a photoshopped edit with the text removed from the notepad, creating a blank template and tweeting "New Meme Format dropped #KanyeWest #Kanye," which picked up over 400 likes[3].

Edits started flooding in immediately. Twitter user @jr_itm posted a version with SpongeBob character Doodlebob drawn on the notepad, earning over 7,400 retweets and 52,000 likes in a day[3]. @KelseyKreppel posted a variation referencing the classic Kanye Interrupts meme ("Imma let you finish"), pulling in 26,600 likes and 2,700 retweets[3].

By February 14, the meme had grown enough for people to use it as a "ratio" tool on Twitter. User @KanyePodcast shared a screenshot of someone successfully ratioing a post using a Kanye notepad image with "ratio" written on it[3]. The same day, Distractify and HITC both published articles covering the trend[1]. USA Today's For The Win section ran a roundup of the best variations a few days later, calling it "Twitter's new favorite meme"[2].

The format drew comparisons to other sign-holding and whiteboard exploitables. As Distractify noted, "fans love a chance to insert a new image on a whiteboard or sheet of paper that's near a celebrity"[1]. The meme's appeal was straightforward: it let people put words in the mouth of one of the most unpredictable celebrities on the internet, right in the middle of a very public meltdown.

## How to Use
The Kanye West Holding Notepad format typically follows these steps:
1. Start with the image of Kanye holding the yellow legal pad (the unmasked version is more commonly used).
2. Erase or cover the original "my account is not hacked" text.
3. Write or draw something new on the notepad. Common approaches include jokes, meme references, simple drawings, single absurd words like "Dinosaur," or timely commentary[1].
4. Post it as if Kanye himself scrawled the message.

## Cultural Impact
The meme landed during a period of intense public scrutiny of Kanye West's online behavior. His February 2022 Instagram spree included calling out Billie Eilish (claiming she had dissed Travis Scott), announcing that Kid Cudi would be removed from his album because of Cudi's friendship with Pete Davidson, and sharing a photoshopped Captain America: Civil War poster with his and Davidson's faces[1]. Multiple outlets covered both the posts and the resulting memes, with writers noting the tension between finding humor in the situation and acknowledging West's documented mental health struggles[1].

Michael Che's same-day notepad response on Instagram, which earned nearly 300,000 likes, showed how the format could be used for direct celebrity-to-celebrity communication[3]. The meme also briefly became a functional Twitter tool, with users deploying Kanye notepad images as ratio weapons[3].

## Fun Facts
- West deleted the original Instagram post within hours, but the internet had already screenshotted both versions and started editing them[1].
- The notepad meme dropped on February 13, just one day before Valentine's Day, giving creators extra material to work with given the divorce context[3].
- The meme format was so intuitive that @SeriousUnci's blank template appeared within hours of the original post, showing how quickly internet users can identify exploitable content[3].
- USA Today ran a full roundup of the best edits, treating the meme like a sporting event highlight reel[2].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Kanye West Holding Notepad?
It's an exploitable image macro based on a photo Kanye West posted to Instagram on February 13, 2022, showing him holding a yellow legal pad that reads "my account is not hacked 2 13 22." People edit the notepad to say different things[1].

### Where did Kanye West Holding Notepad come from?
Kanye posted the original photo to Instagram during a posting spree about his divorce and Kim Kardashian's relationship with Pete Davidson. He wanted to prove his account wasn't hacked[3].

### What does Kanye West Holding Notepad mean?
The meme itself doesn't carry a fixed meaning. It's a blank canvas format where the humor comes from whatever message or drawing the creator puts on the notepad, as if Kanye wrote it[2].

### How do you use Kanye West Holding Notepad?
Take the image, erase the original text, and write or draw something new on the notepad. Post it as though Kanye scrawled the message himself. The more absurd or unexpected the content, the better[1].

### Is Kanye West Holding Notepad still popular?
The meme saw its biggest spike in February 2022 and has largely settled into the broader library of exploitable sign-holding formats. It still gets pulled out occasionally when Kanye is in the news[2].

### Why did Kanye post the notepad photo?
He was posting so frequently and erratically about Pete Davidson and his divorce that fans suspected his account was hacked. The notepad photo was meant to prove he was really behind the posts[1].

### Who made the blank template?
Twitter user @SeriousUnci created the first blank template edit on February 13, 2022, photoshopping out the text and tweeting "New Meme Format dropped"[3].

### What was Michael Che's response?
After Kanye's notepad post called him out, SNL's Michael Che responded on Instagram with his own series of handwritten notepad pages, earning over 291,000 likes in a day[3].

### What were the most viral edits?
A Doodlebob drawing by @jr_itm hit 52,000 likes, and a Kanye Interrupts callback by @KelseyKreppel reached 26,600 likes, both within the first day[3].

## References
1. [Kanye West's Notepad Is a Meme, and the Internet Is Having a Ball](<https://www.distractify.com/p/kanye-west-notepad-meme>)
2. [Kanye West holding a scrawled-on notepad has become Twitter's new favorite meme](<https://ftw.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/pop-culture/2022/02/17/kanye-west-notepad-memes-instagram-twitter/81393520007/>)
3. [Kanye West Holding Notepad - Know Your Meme](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/kanye-west-holding-notepad>)
4. [List of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon games and sketches](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Late_Night_with_Jimmy_Fallon_games_and_sketches>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/kanye-west-holding-notepad
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