Last April, as if she’d walked right out of her Instagram feed and into the real world, Lil Tay appeared in L.A., a badass Dora the Explorer come to life. In apartment buildings on Vine and, once they make some money, in the Hollywood Hills, meme stars team up, sometimes living together in McMansions, sharing their followings and clout, all angling toward a more lucrative hustle, most often in hip-hop.

The attention sticks if they can attach themselves to a song or TV show.Ī whole separate Hollywood has sprouted in Los Angeles for those out to capitalize on this oft-fleeting kind of fame. Their specialty is becoming living, breathing memes, blips of pop culture that live in ten-second clips or viral photos. They repeat catchphrases - like “youngest flexer of the century” - to give viewers a mnemonic by which to remember them. They get face tattoos so people will stop and stare. They look straight at the camera and make statements meant only to shock. They tend to be younger and make their mark not on Instagram but YouTube.

Their lives are, at least from a Gwyneth Paltrow–ish perspective, too perfect to believe.īut, in the manner of the Donald Trump of ’80s tabloid fame, the second group of influencers takes an almost opposite path. These people hope to eventually get paid to post content for a wellness start-up. There are those who pose thoughtfully for Instagram while reading a book of Rupi Kaur’s poetry by candlelight, a cup of tea by their side. There are, in the social-media universe, two kinds of influencers, meaning people who make money, one way or another, by amassing a following. She is, as she likes to put it, the “youngest flexer of the century.” “And I’m only 9 years old!” Not only has the grammar-schooler driven a Rolls-Royce (granted, only for five feet in a parking lot), but she has kicked one so hard she left a dent. She’s almost exclusively seen holding a stack of cash. She wears Gucci belts across her chest like sashes and Louis Vuitton belts draped around her waist. Her kitchen is bigger than your entire living room. So does her wardrobe, her bed, her jewelry - really anything in her vicinity. Her toilet, Lil Tay announced, costs more than your momma’s rent.

If you were on Instagram or the internet at all last spring, you very well may. The Lil Tay fairy tale begins not with “Once upon a time” but “YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT IT IS.”

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