Introduction

Scumbag Steve is a popular internet meme that features an image of a young man, Blake Boston, wearing a backwards cap. The meme is often used to portray a stereotypical slacker or someone engaging in socially irresponsible behavior.

Background

The meme is based on an image from the album cover of "Ma Gangsta" by the rap group Beantown Mafia. It gained traction after being featured in a compilation on Reddit, where it quickly became popular, amassing over 8,600 upvotes before being archived. Blake Boston, also known as "Weezy B," was identified in the Reddit thread, and he later shared that the photograph was originally taken by his mother.

Meme History

The domain scumbagsteve.com was registered on January 27, 2011. A compilation of Scumbag Steve images was published on BuzzFeed on February 2, 2011. On February 11, 2011, The Daily Mail reported on Blake Boston's response to his newfound internet fame. By April 6, 2012, a Facebook fan page had garnered 13,953 likes, while a Quickmeme page boasted 73,815 submissions and a Meme Generator page featured 153,149 submissions. Variants of the meme can also be found on platforms like Tumblr, Memebase, and Funny Junk.

Internet Reaction

Scumbag Steve quickly became a favorite within Reddit's /r/trees subreddit, where users created numerous image macros that humorously referenced smoking etiquette and shared experiences related to cannabis use. Blake Boston expressed his appreciation for the marijuana enthusiast subreddit, further solidifying the meme's connection to cannabis culture.