Mic drop
A gesture of dropping a microphone to signal triumph.
Last updated
A mic drop is when someone deliberately lets go of their microphone at the close of a performance or speech, signaling a decisive victory. In a broader sense, it has come to represent a boastful celebration of one's own success.
The practice became common in the 1980s, especially among rappers and comedians. In a rap battle or when silencing a heckler, dropping the mic after a strong line showed total certainty that the opponent could not respond effectively. An early example is Eddie Murphy in his 1983 stand-up special Delirious; he repeated the gesture in his 1988 film Coming to America as the character Randy Watson after singing “The Greatest Love of All.”
The gesture saw a surge in popularity from 2012 onward. U.S. President Barack Obama performed a mic drop on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which is often credited with spreading the meme.
At the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 30, 2016, Obama ended his speech with “Obama out” and dropped the mic, echoing NBA player Kobe Bryant’s “mamba out” farewell after his final game on April 14, 2016. In 2017, RM, leader of the boy band BTS, said the track “Mic Drop” from their EP Love Yourself: Her was inspired by Obama’s speech. A figurative use also appears in a promotional video for the Invictus Games featuring Obama and the British royal family.
On April 1, 2016, Google added a “mic drop” feature to Gmail as an April Fools' joke. It let users send a GIF of a Minion dropping a microphone as an email reply, and also prevented the sender from seeing any further replies from the recipient. The feature was removed within hours after complaints, with some users reporting they lost their jobs after accidentally using it.
Quick Facts
- Earliest known occurrence
- 1983
- Early performer
- Eddie Murphy
- Early show
- Delirious
- Notable political user
- Barack Obama
- Artist of mic drop
- BTS (RM, leader)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The gesture with a microphone became prevalent in the 1980s, when it was used by rappers and comedians. The context could be a rap battle or a comedian interacting with a heckler — and dropping the microphone after a particularly effective line indicated complete confidence in the opponent's inability to come back with anything that would be worthy of a response. An early occurrence was Eddie Murphy in 1983 in his standup show Delirious. He did it again in his 1988 film Coming to America after a musical performance of “The Greatest Love of All” when playing the character Randy Watson.
The gesture gained increased popularity from 2012. US President Barack Obama performed a mic drop on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which has been credited with popularising the meme.
Then at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 30, 2016, Obama ended his speech with the words "Obama out", then dropped a mic, evoking a speech by the then retiring NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant, who had ended his speech with the words "mamba out" at the end of his last game on April 14, 2016. In 2017, RM, the leader of boy band BTS, revealed that the track "Mic Drop" from their extended play Love Yourself: Her was inspired by Obama's speech. A figurative use also features in a promotional video for the Invictus Games featuring Obama and the British royal family.
Reader's Guide
The mic drop gesture has evolved from a niche performance move in 1980s rap and comedy into a widely recognized cultural symbol of finality and triumph. Its early use by Eddie Murphy in 1983 and again in 1988 established the gesture as a confident, boastful punctuation to a successful line or performance. The gesture gained increased popularity from 2012, particularly after Barack Obama performed a mic drop on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which has been credited with popularising the meme.
Obama's subsequent mic drop at the 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he ended his speech with "Obama out" and dropped a mic, directly echoed Kobe Bryant's "mamba out" farewell, linking the gesture to sports as well as politics and entertainment. The gesture's cultural reach extended into music when BTS's RM revealed that the track "Mic Drop" was inspired by Obama's speech, and into royalty via a promotional video for the Invictus Games. Google introduced a "mic drop" feature to Gmail on April 1, 2016, as an April Fools' Day joke, allowing users to send a GIF of a Minion dropping a microphone as a reply to any email.
The feature also prevented the sender from seeing any subsequent replies. It was removed within hours after Google received complaints from some users, with some reporting that they lost their job as a result of accidentally using it. The gesture thus remains a potent, if occasionally risky, symbol of definitive success.
More in Headphones, Mics and Mice
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Mic drop (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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