Turn Down for What

About

“Turn Down for What” is a trap song by artists DJ Snake and Lil Jon which celebrates being “turnt up,” an excited state of being typically used in the context of partying.

Origin

On October 14th, 2013, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Blair Waldourf submitted an entry for “turn down for what,” defining it as a “rhetorical question” used to indicate a desire to continue partying. On December 18th, 2013, the track “Turn Down for What” was released as a single by DJ Snake and Lil Jon. By the last week of that month, the song made the top 10 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic chart.

Music Video

On March 13th, 2014, the DJSnakeVEVO YouTube channel uploaded the music video for the track, in which several residents in an apartment building burst through the floors below them while performing violently sexual dance moves. Within three months, the video gained over 55.5 million views and 45,800 comments.

Spread

On April 23rd, 2014, YouTuber TDFWFail uploaded a video of several people falling down in a speedboat accompanied by “Turn Down for What?” playing in the background (shown below, left). Within six weeks, the video gathered upwards of 2.1 million views and 650 comments. On April 25th, YouTuber Laina Morris (a.k.a. Overly Attached Girlfriend) uploaded a vlog in which she confesses to several minor transgressions followed by clips of Lil Jon yelling “Turn Down for What” (shown below, right).

On March 22nd, Redditor Wonderbotz submitted the “Turn Down for What” music video to the /r/videos^[3] subreddit, where it garnered over 16,200 upvotes and 900 comments in two months. On May 4th, TheFineBros YouTube channel uploaded a video in their Teens React web series featuring several teenagers responding to the “Turn Down for What” music video (shown below, left). In the next month, the video accumulated more than 4.2 million views and 17,500 comments. On May 29th, YouTuber Katz uploaded a video of two kittens bobbing their heads in sync to the beat of “Turn Down for What” (shown below, right). On June 5th, Redditor Bpods submitted the video to the /r/videos^[4] subreddit, where it gained over 3,500 upvotes and 110 comments in the first five hours.

Notable Examples

TD4W Button

The single serving site TD4WButton features a clickable blue button that plays the chorus from “Turn Down for What” (shown below).

Search Interest

External References