Fortnite has brought in the iconic ma-ya-hi dance as an emote

Fortnite has brought in an iconic YouTube moment as a new emote.

Fans of a certain age may not know how wild the internet was nearly 20 years ago. With the advent of YouTube, the concept of “going viral” became a thing many people started chasing after. Some lucked into it, some sought it out but a huge number of people became pioneers for the internet meme culture so many enjoy today.

Yet, before YouTube launched in 2005, NewGrounds was where so many found their viral content. That included a then-18-year-old Gary Brolsma. Brolsma became “internet-famous” for dancing along to the pop song “Dragostea Din Tei”, by the Moldovan group OZone.

It became a huge hit, featured all over the place like Good Morning America, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and VH1’s Best Week Ever. It was, at the time, the most-watched video ever at over 700 million views. In a time when no website was really pulling in those types of figures, that was a huge feat.

Many fans will now see regular videos surpass a billion views, but a long time ago, on an internet far away, 700 million views seemed like an unrealistic possibility.

Now, Fortnite fans can bring the iconic meme to life with the new emotes.

The new emote recaptures that meme perfectly

Not only does the emote feature the iconic Ozone song, picking up right at the chorus, but it also recaptures Brolsma’s dance perfectly.

Your character will sit in a chair and pop their arms out just like he did all those years ago, but in much better quality than a web cam in 2004 could muster.

The emote is a huge hit already by fans and even though younger fans who were born after may not really “get it” as older fans do, it’s still a great emote that will make so many fans smile.