State Property Meme
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Lock Em Up Meme: Origin, Meaning and the Full Clip

The lock em up meme is the second half of the hit the road dude clip. Where it comes from, the exact lines, what it means, and how to find the video, sound and GIFs.

Oct 22, 2026

The lock em up meme comes from the same TikTok as "hit the road, dude". After the driver of a white pickup tells an angler that "this ain't no state property, this is private property", he takes the angler's name and explains that someone just called him and said to "lock 'em up". That second half became a meme of its own, used to call for wildly over-the-top punishment of a small offense.

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Where "lock 'em up" comes from

The clip was posted on TikTok on August 21, 2025 by the person who was fishing, and Know Your Meme reports it passed 13.7 million views in roughly three weeks. It runs about 70 seconds. Most people know only the middle, from "State?" to "private property"; the "lock 'em up" lines come about 40 seconds in, after the driver has asked for a name.

Because the two halves spread separately, Know Your Meme lists the meme as Lock 'Em Up / State Property, and a YouTube reupload of the full original clip is titled "LOCK EM UP!!". For the first half and how the meme started, see the hit the road dude meme: origin, full lines and meaning.

The lock em up lines

Here is the second half of the clip, transcribed from the original audio. The angler has just been told to leave and asked for his name:

  1. "What is your name? I want your name so I can call down and see who gave you permission."
  2. The angler gives his name. Then: "State property. I ain't never heard of that before in my life."
  3. "And a man just called me and called [a name] and said, '[Name], they're fishing in this pond.' He said, 'Lock 'em up.'"
  4. "Oh, man." "Lock 'em up."
  5. "You better leave, man. You better leave."

The rest of the clip is more back-and-forth and another "hit the road" as the anglers pack up to leave. We have left out the names spoken in the clip; they are private people.

What the lock em up meme means

The joke is the jump in scale. The offense is a man fishing in the wrong pond, and the answer, passed along by phone like an order from above, is to lock him up. Meme.com describes "lock 'em up" as the escalation line, used for exaggerated calls to punish a minor offense, and Know Your Meme notes that the memes are usually captioned with someone or something that needs to be "locked up".

So the format works for any small crime you want to blow out of proportion: the coworker who eats your lunch, the friend who spoils a show, the driver who doesn't use a turn signal. Early examples collected by Know Your Meme include a version captioned about jury duty, set in a courtroom (September 3, 2025), and a lip-dub captioned about speeding (September 6, 2025).

It has nothing to do with "Lock her up", the chant from the 2016 US presidential campaign. The only thing they share is the phrase.

Lock em up on TikTok

The meme took off on TikTok in two formats, both covered by Know Your Meme:

  • Lip-dubs. The earliest known one was posted on August 24, 2025, three days after the original, and passed 2.3 million views.
  • Green-screen edits. On August 31, 2025 a creator cut the "lock 'em up" part into a green-screen edit that passed 423,000 views in about a week. That edit, and others like it, became separate TikTok sounds, so "lock 'em up" lives in different sounds from the "state property" part.

The clip came back in October 2026, this time as AI edits, reenactments and skits. For how TikTok sounds work and how to post with one, see the hit the road dude song: what the sound is and how to use it.

Where to find the lock em up video and GIFs

  • The video. Search TikTok or YouTube for "lock em up state property". The full original is about 70 seconds; if a repost is much shorter, it is a cut.
  • The sound. On TikTok, open a video that uses the part you want and tap the sound name at the bottom, then Use this sound. Check the sound's length before you use it, since many cuts stop before "lock 'em up".
  • The GIFs. Tenor has GIFs of the driver and of the remakes, including a Minecraft boat edit. Search Tenor or GIPHY for "lock em up", "state property" or "hit the road dude". Meme.com dates the first "Hit The Road Dude" reaction GIF on Tenor to October 5, 2025.

Make the state property half with your photo

Our hit the road dude generator puts your photo, or your cat's or dog's, in the driver's seat with the meme's audio already merged in. Its templates cover the first half: "State?", "hit the road, dude" and "this is private property", and the longest one ends with the driver writing the angler's name on a notepad. None of them includes the "lock 'em up" phone call, so if that is the part you want, use the sound on TikTok instead.

If the state property part is what you are after, the state property meme AI page starts on the 11-second cut, from "I thought it was state property" to "private property". For a walkthrough, read how to make a hit the road dude AI video.

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