We’re living in a golden age of Twitter pranks built on ’90s music. This admittedly niche category of Easter egg has gotten a workout this week: Richard Cook went viral over the long weekend by matching the first word of each of his tweets with a lyric from the first verse of Smash Mouth’s “All Star.”
And now the Carolina Panthers are getting in on the fun. The Charlotte-based NFL team tweeted out this cryptic message earlier today:
Now go back and read the first word of our tweets from the last three days
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) July 7, 2017
So people kept scrolling, and soon the connection was clear: the Panthers have tweeted 38 times since Tuesday, and when read in reverse order (starting with the above tweet) the first word of each tweet corresponds with a lyric from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.
For those readers who aren’t hardcore ’90s kids, here’s how Will Smith’s rap begins:
“Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.”
You can read the whole thread here—the word “Bel” is actually a bell emoji for the Fourth of July.
As with the Smash Mouth troll, this Easter egg immediately went viral. Many fans fittingly replied with Fresh Prince gifs:
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) July 7, 2017
This is a good idea. pic.twitter.com/3vQtRN6Wu8
— Tess Quinlan (@TessQuinlan) July 7, 2017
— Joshua Sánchez (@jnsanchez) July 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/KristenBalboni/status/883355511403368450
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/mC9LRXS44c
— David Reese (@WXReese) July 7, 2017
— Stefanie (@Stefmara) July 7, 2017
Others said the Panthers social media team should get a raise:
I spy a social media manager who deserves a promotion and a big-time end-of-year bonus. https://t.co/lKoazEr1bF
— Lily Herman (@lkherman) July 7, 2017
This is A+ 💯. Bravo, @Panthers social media team. https://t.co/b1B0NTd5NB
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 7, 2017
Who knows how the Panthers thought of this, but we’ll take this viral tribute to Smith over a Reddit plot to deport him any day.
