Almost ten years ago a group of musicians began capitalizing on the viral moments on YouTube and other media outlets. The Gregory Brothers brought us the hilariousness of Antoine Dodson and Sweet Georgia Brown. All of these remixes led to a higher profile for the people featured and the words from the interviews and reviews in the songs remain a part of our lexicon. Who hasn’t randomly said, “Dead Giveaway” or repeated “Dayum, Dayum Dayum” and thought of Daym Drops instead of Florida Evans?
Daym Drops (https://www.youtube.com/c/DaymDrops/) launched his YouTube over 9 years ago. Prior to his review of Five Guys, which became the basis for “Dayum” he had done over 32 videos. That’s not a lot, but in many instances people automatically assume they will “go viral” with the first video they post. There really isn’t any rhyme or reason for what catches on in the psyche of the people. Especially at the time that Daym released the Five Guys video. At that time, things were more organic. Today, “Going viral” has become the plan and with so much content readily available people spend time trying to get famous as opposed to being true to what they are attempting. Daym was consistent in his dedication to reviews. That persistence has led to 279,736,406 views and over 1.5 million subscribers. Most recently, that hard work led to a deal with Netflix.
At random times throughout the day, because my family doesn’t work a traditional job schedule, we take breaks. We decided to give Daym’s new show a shot. I mean, we’ve seen him pop up in Popeye’s Chicken commercials and as I said earlier, everyone randomly quotes the “Dayum, Dayum, Dayum,” when we eat something or see something that looks good. We watch a host of food review shows and Daym’s show follows suit. It’s not adventurous or groundbreaking, but the same infectious, comedic tone of Daym’s YouTube is captured perfectly.
YouTube’ing has become a career goal for many. Making partner on the platform is no longer the ultimate accomplishment. With a large number of subscribers, a YouTuber can monetize in a variety of ways, but there is a dark side of being so popular. Daym seems to have managed his fame well. Even with the Netflix show, he continues to create content for his channel. While it would be easy to make a comment on the amount of fried food being eaten and the problems of diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure that permeates in the Black community (that’s as much as I’m saying), it’s more important to celebrate that of the few faces in food reviews on television and streaming, (what happened to Chef Jeff?), watching the progression and growth of Daym has been amazing and inspiring. The show is good, especially if you want to pass the time, or if you plan on visiting one of the cities in the 9 episodes. I’m looking forward to a second season… with more veggies.
