About

Eye of Rah, also known as Eye of Ra, refers to an image of a Black man with red hair photoshopped to have one eye like a cyclops, which became popularized across a series of Hood Lobotomy videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels. The man says, "Ay, yo, chill the fuck out, yo," in the original video. His real name is Rashad Bowens and he posts on TikTok at @lilbotheme and on Instagram at @bothemess. He's known for his reaction stitches and iconic red dreads that sometimes stick straight upward. Instagram user and TikToker Jeremiah Springfield created the original edit that gave Bowens one eye, akin to the Hood Cryptids trend. Viewers dubbed the meme the "Eye of Rah," likely riffing on the precursor Curse of Ra. As it trended in early January 2025, Eye of Rah memes were often combined with other then-trending memes like Chopped Chin and I Bought a Property in Egypt, forming a series of brainrot and sludge content videos.

On January 10th, 2025, Know Your Meme published an interview with both Jeremiah Springfield and Rashad Bowens.

Origin

On December 11th, 2022, TikToker^[1] Rashad Bowens (@lilbotheme) stitched a Duet of a man reacting to a cucumber being salted. Bowens interrupted, saying, "Ay, yo, chill the fuck out, yo." The video received over 597,700 plays and 66,500 likes over two years (shown below).

On November 26th, 2024, TikToker^[2] Jeremiah Springfield (@frightenedsheep25937582) posted an edit of the abovementioned video in which he gave Bowens one eye like a cyclops and one red dread extending straight up from his head. The video received over 1.7 million plays and 283,800 likes in two months (shown below).

Also on November 26th, Jeremiah Springfield posted the video to his Instagram^[3] account, receiving over 622,100 likes over the same timeframe.

On November 28th, TikToker @zketchum commented, "eye of ra ✌️," in the abovementioned video's comment section, receiving over 21,000 likes in two months (shown below).

Spread

On December 22nd, 2024, Instagram^[4] user @skaxta posted a video that only included Rashad Bowens saying, "Ay, yo, chill the fuck out, yo," and included one frame of him as a cyclops with a flame effect from CapCut. The video gained over 451,100 likes in 15 days (shown below).

Going into January 2025, more edits were shared that riffed on the original. For instance, on January 3rd, Instagram^[5] user @mfpharaoh posted a video that followed the Eye of Rah trend, amassing over 5,800 likes in three days.

Also on January 3rd, 2025, TikToker^[6] @bobxiaohongshu posted a video that had text overlay reading, "eye of rah core," receiving over 247,900 plays and 10,400 likes in three days (shown below).

On January 4th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @.bob911_ posted a video that combined the Eye of Rah meme with I Bought a Property in Egypt and Chopped Chin, receiving over 1.8 million plays and 285,500 likes in two days (shown below). On the same day, many on Instagram^[8] and TikTok^[9] posted similar videos.

The meme also spread on Twitter / X during the same timeframe. For instance, on January 5th, X^[10] user @Craftiest_ reposted an Eye of Rah edit (with a watermark reading "cloudssssss") captioning it, "We're meant to be the most intelligent species BTW," gaining over 5,500 likes in a day (shown below).

we're meant to be the most intelligent species btw pic.twitter.com/UoVrM1Yb4y

— Crafter (@Craftiest_) January 5, 2025

On January 5th, 2025, TikToker^[11] Jeremiah Springfield (@frightenedsheep25937582) posted a new Eye of Rah video that riffed on the King Von Anti-Piracy Screen meme, gaining over 974,800 plays and 155,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Interview

On January 10th, 2025, Know Your Meme published an interview with both Jeremiah Springfield and Rashad Bowens. On the subject, Bowens said, "I love it. I want to bring positivity to this world. This is what I always wanted. I was never really trying to work for real. Just to get there, now I feel like it's finally here. I never felt like I was normal. I always wanted to be something in life."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References