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Consider Philly-centric entertainment the upper atmosphere out of view.Īs you work your way through these tiers, you'll probably find quite a few entries that you've never encountered before. People like Will Smith would naturally be placed in the upper tiers, where everything is pretty much common knowledge.
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There are just too many of them to reasonably include, although the transcendent ones like the Rocky statue get a pass if they become deeply rooted in a specific way.
Internet iceberg meme tv#
Or maybe I was just tired.Ī man in an Eagles jacket sleeps on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line in 2018, wearing a hat that says, “Woke.”Jones' iceberg meme largely leaves out bands, musicians, celebrities, athletes, movies and TV shows connected to Philly. It felt like one of the most Philly things I had ever seen in my life. It was too funny to pass up the moment that this sleeping, woke Birds bro - a complete stranger - had gifted me. on the El, a few months after the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. I personally stashed away this photo I took in 2018 while going to work at 5:30 a.m.
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It's strangely true: Philly always knows a "thing" when it sees it, logic be damned. "You could say that about pretty much every Philly 'thing' lol," another user replied. On the Philadelphia subreddit, Jones commented, "I don't fully understand why people make such a big deal of it, but it's legendary for some reason." He was ducking the law and had brazenly popped up at a concert in New York City one week before a Philadelphia police officer happened to recognize him in the drive-thru lane at the McDonald's at 29 Grays Ferry Ave.Īs hyped as the arrest became locally, surviving Wu Tang member Masta Killa told PhillyVoice in a 2019 interview that he had forgotten ODB's arrest happened in Philly. ODB was a fugitive at the time, having escaped from a court-ordered stint at a drug treatment facility in California. His meme has sparked a healthy debate and discussion in the comments to his post on the Philadelphia subreddit and local Facebook groups.Ĭonsider the example of the ODB McDonald's in Grays Ferry - third tier out of seven - where the late Wu Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard was arrested in 2000. from r/philadelphiaĬredit for this thorough depiction goes to Cameron Jones, a writer and illustrator who moved to Philadelphia from Tampa, Florida about five years ago. ( Note: The embedded image from Reddit below was later updated to correct typos and include a few important omissions).
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As one descends lower, each tier is stocked with people, places and events that only more seasoned Philadelphians would recognize. The idea of the meme is basically that the part of the iceberg above the water – aka the tip – consists of things most people know about and associate with Philadelphia. Each tier deeper below the surface takes a closer look at the arcana of Philadelphia, from historical events to seemingly random happenings and people who have become part of the local lore. The vague notion of "Philadelphia being Philadelphia" is really the only explanation for his larger-than-life existence, and yet that's somehow more than enough for Gritty to make perfect sense.Ī fun meme making the rounds on social media this week utilizes the template of an iceberg to illustrate the old tip-of-the-iceberg idiom. Take the easy example of Gritty: Philly is probably the only place where such a weird monstrosity could ascend to mythological proportions and resonate beyond the city as a global ambassador. Philadelphia prides itself on an influential history and ethos that combine to give it one of the nation's most distinctive urban cultures, an identity that perfectly brings together gravity and levity.
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