The image of a smug-looking Black man tapping his temple with a knowing grin has been employed to joke about dumb life hacks and other topics for nearly a decade now.

The meme, which features British actor Kayode Ewumi dressed as the character Reece Simpson, also known as "Roll Safe," is now irrevocably linked with jokes about dodging responsibilities and skirting common sense.

But most Americans didn't know that the meme came from the BBC Three web series #HoodDocumentary, and many mistook Ewumi for famous comedian and actor Eddie Murphy, or some kind of rapper.

In fact, by the time the meme reached peak virality in 2017, Ewumi had already long retired the Roll Safe character.

So, what has the internet's favorite cheatcode philosopher been up to over the past decade? Here's a recap of the iconic Roll Safe meme and what Kayode Ewumi has been up to since.

Who Is Kayode Ewumi, and What's The Origin Of The Roll Safe Meme?

Kayode Ewumi is a British actor, comedian and writer who began acting in youth theater at London's Young Vic, the same place he'd later usher while studying theater and professional practice at university. After quitting stand-up comedy at the age of 19, he moved on to posting tweets and filming Vines.

Egged on by cousins who watched his videos through WhatsApp, he satirized the goofy characters he encountered in his everyday life. One of the characters he invented was Reece Simpson, better known as Roll Safe or R.C.

The character was born when Ewumi went to meet his friend and collaborator, Tyrell Williams, who suggested that Ewumi act like he was one of the "olders" on the estate who are always hanging around and trying to sell their mixtaps.

Ewumi then threw on a chain, put on a lisp, strutted around in a black leather jacket with no shirt, and started acting like he stole the car he'd driven in on. Roll Safe's whole deal was that he talked big, promised more than he could deliver, and charmed people in spite of it.

The skits eventually led to Ewumi creating the self-published YouTube series #HoodDocumentary, which was a parody of documentary-style shows centered on R.S.'s ridiculous bravado and misguided advice. The series eventually got picked up by BBC Three, featuring Roll Safe pontificating about life and hustling toward a rap career.

In one scene, he declared a woman "beautiful because she's got good brains," grinned, and tapped his temple, implying that the only "brain" he was interested in was the one she would give him.

How Did The Meme Of A Black Guy Tapping His Temple Go Viral?

The three-second clip of Roll Safe smirking and pointing to his head escaped its BBC context and began circulating online following its appearance in the show.

British Twitter accounts picked it up in mid-2016, but the meme reached viral liftoff in early 2017 on American "Black Twitter."

The format was simple — slap the image onto a bad idea disguised as a clever one. "You can’t be broke if you don't check your bank account," Twitter user @RyanWindoww joked in a post from late January 2017, pulling in more than 74,000 likes in the following week.

Another meme from around the same time read, "If you're already late, take your time—you can't be late twice," clocking over 50,000 likes in just a couple of days for Twitter user @Trillxdadian, while Twitter user @girlposts tweeted, "you can't get cheated on if you don't get into a relationship." The tweets were all posted in January 2017, nearly 6 months after the original video went live, as the format and reaction GIF began cementing itself as a classic meme.

How Did Kayode Ewumi React To His Meme Fame?

By the time the Roll Safe meme exploded, Kayode Ewumi had already moved on. Just months after #HoodDocumentary blew up, he announced that the character was going on hiatus.

"Once you get the coins, get out of there," he told Vice in 2016, comparing his approach to the ITV game show Jungle Run, where kids have to dash through a course and collect points or risk getting trapped in the "jungle" forever. But the fact that the internet would never meet Roll Safe again didn't stop the jokes from spreading.

Still, in a 2020 interview with Buzzfeed UK, Ewumi said, "I didn't go to university to become a meme […] I went to university to tell stories, to be a storyteller. But it makes people happy, so whatever."

Ewumi thought it was funny how much Americans loved the Roll Safe meme, and giggled at the fact that some people on Black Twitter had mistaken him for Eddie Murphy, or even a real rapper.

The reason so many people mistook Ewumi for a real rapper was that the Roll Safe meme wasn't even his first brush with fame.

Back in 2015, soon after #HoodDocumentary blew up, he made an appearance on BBC Radio 1Xtra3 to do a freestyle rap as R.S., releasing "Back In The Day, Me and You Baby."

Dressed in his signature black leather jacket, no shirt and chain, Ewumi rattled off bars like, "Back in the day, me and you baby, we used to have fun […] That's not my son."

The "Fire in the Booth" segment was a smash hit, raking in 16 million views over the past decade, and when the Roll Safe meme went viral in 2017, it was one of the first results for people looking him up.

What's Ewumi Been Up To Since He Became A Viral Meme, And Where Can I Find Him Today?

Kayode Ewumi never planned on dragging out the Roll Safe character longer than he had to, and he's spent the last decade working on a slew of new creative pursuits, both behind and in front of the camera.

Right after the BBC Three #HoodDocumentary series wrapped up, he made a number of guest appearances on British television shows until his project Enterprice came out in 2018.

The show, which went on for two seasons between 2017 and 2020, starred Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge and Kayode Ewumi as Kazim and Jeremiah, two young entrepreneurs trying to get their home delivery business, "Speedi-Kazz," off the ground.

Ewumi has started taking on more serious roles in recent years. In 2024, he wrote and acted in the film In Search of a Better Life, which follows two families, the Mensahs and the Johnsons, in Ghana.

Still, he hasn't forgotten his roots in YouTube comedy. On December 6th, 2024, he dropped "Kwame The Magician – Episode 1," a new short web series about an aspiring magician named Kwame.

If you're curious to know more and stay up to date on the actor and meme icon, you can find Kayode Ewumi on his YouTube channel MrKay Ewumi or on his private Instagram page @kayewumi6 to see more.

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For the full history of Roll Safe meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information. To see the rest of our "Where Are They Now" series, you can find them all here. Stay tuned for next week's editorial!

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