Capybaras “pull up” because of a meme. Creators paired the opening line of Don Toliver’s 2020 song “After Party” (“Okay, I pull up, hop out at the after party”) with footage of capybaras arriving somewhere with total calm, most famously a capybara riding in a car’s passenger seat. The contrast between a confident hip-hop intro and the most relaxed animal on Earth made it one of the internet’s favorite capybara jokes.
Here’s where it came from, why capybaras fit it so well, and what to know if your kids keep singing it.
The song behind the meme #
“After Party” is a track by American rapper and singer Don Toliver, released on his album Heaven or Hell on March 13, 2020. According to Know Your Meme, the song took off on TikTok in April and May 2020, used in dance and lip-sync videos by big creators.
“Pull up” is slang for arriving somewhere, usually by car. “Hop out” means getting out, ready to be seen. The intro’s slow, confident delivery works as a soundtrack for anything making a grand entrance, and the format appeared with other characters, including a Star Wars edit, before capybaras made it their own.
How capybaras took over the “pull up” #
Know Your Meme traces the capybara version to September 10, 2020, when YouTube channel EGA NATION reposted a clip of a capybara named JoeJoe riding in a car’s passenger seat, set to the song. The clip gathered close to 300,000 views in under a year, and the pairing spread across TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Creators then went looking for any capybara footage that could count as “pulling up”:
- A capybara riding shotgun or in a toy car
- A capybara wading slowly into a group of other animals
- A capybara sinking into a hot spring as the beat lands
- A capybara floating past with a fruit balanced on its head
Every version runs on the same joke: the music says “big entrance,” and the capybara says “I’m just here.”
Why capybaras are perfect for this meme #
They look unbothered. Capybaras have a blocky face, half-closed eyes and a habit of sitting still for long stretches. That expression reads as supreme confidence, whatever the animal is actually thinking.
They get along with almost everyone. Photos regularly show capybaras with birds on their backs or sitting calmly near other species. A capybara is the animal most likely to be welcomed at any party. We cover the biology behind this in do capybaras get along with other animals.
They sit upright like a passenger. A large rodent sitting in a car seat, looking out the window, is inherently funny. It just is.
Their image was already out there. Japan’s capybara hot springs had been producing adorable photos for decades, including the famous capybaras with yuzu on their heads. We explain those in why capybaras have oranges on their heads.
What “pull up” means now #
For a lot of people, especially kids, “pull up” is simply the capybara song. The phrase has become shorthand for a capybara showing up somewhere and being effortlessly cool. You’ll see it on stickers, plush tags and in comments on any capybara video.
It also helped push capybaras into games. The calm-in-chaos energy of the meme is exactly how many capybara games work. In Capybara Crossing, “the world’s chillest animal, in a hurry for once” hops across busy roads, rivers and railways while traffic roars past, and you spend coins on 19 capybaras, including Hot Spring Capy, Orange Capy and a King Capy in a crown. That’s about as close to a capybara pulling up to the party as a game gets.
A note for parents #
The meme clips use only the song’s first line. The rest of “After Party” is written for adults, so if your child asks to hear “the capybara song,” you may prefer to stick to the meme videos or a kid-friendly capybara song rather than the full track.
For more on the capybara craze as a whole, see why capybaras are so popular.
Frequently asked questions #
What song is the capybara “pull up” meme? #
It’s “After Party” by Don Toliver, from his 2020 album Heaven or Hell. The meme uses the opening line, “Okay, I pull up, hop out at the after party.”
Who is the capybara in the car? #
The best-known early clip shows a capybara named JoeJoe riding in a car’s passenger seat. A September 2020 repost of that video set to “After Party” is widely credited with starting the capybara version of the meme.
When did the capybara pull up meme start? #
The song came out in March 2020 and was popular on TikTok that spring. The capybara version followed in September 2020 and kept spreading over the next few years.
Can capybaras really ride in cars? #
Some pet capybaras, in places where owning one is legal, do travel by car with their owners, which is where clips like JoeJoe’s come from. Capybaras are still wild animals that need space, water and company, so they’re a poor fit as pets for most people.