From a factory worker in poverty khaby lame to making $10 million in 2021 alone.

Doesn’t try too hard to please everyone”

Khabi’s page is now the second most popular in all of TikTok. First place goes to the account of 17-year-old American dancer Charli D’Amelio, followed by 122 million people. The girl became the first Internet celebrity who was able to cross the TikTok milestone of 100 million subscribers.

However, Leim has every chance to overtake D’Amelio in terms of the number of fans and set a new record. The 21-year-old Italian’s TikTok page has received more than 12 million followers in the past month, according to Social Blade, which tracks social media statistics. His competitor from the United States is lagging behind: the audience of her account has grown by only 2 million people over the same time.

The popularity of the Senegalese native has turned out to be almost phenomenal: the young man who almost became the main star of TikTok does not have a producer or a team of scriptwriters behind him, like many big bloggers. Leim lives with his parents and shoots many of his videos in the room he shares with his younger brother. He has never been to a TikTokand  house, he has never turned to other bloggers for help, he has never gotten likes and views under posts.TikTok.

One possible reason for the interest in Xabi was cited by Samir Chaudry, co-creator of The Publish Press newsletter on the blogging economy, in a conversation with The New York Times. “People love the fact that he doesn’t try too hard to please everyone.

Media manager Adam Meskouri told The New York Times that most users are tired of influencers who “tell you how to look, what looks cool and what doesn’t.” “And here comes the usual guy Habi, who is nice to watch. You understand that you have much more in common with him than with many other famous bloggers, ”he reasoned about why the unemployed guy turned out to be of interest to millions of users from all over the world.

“It’s all about facial expressions and gestures”

Popularity came to the 21-year-old blogger after a video in which he makes fun of a viral prank. In the original video, an unknown person fastened the girl to a flower bed using a bicycle lock and then ran away. The victim tried to free his leg but failed. In the response video, Leim, who was in the place of the prank victim, took off his shoes, after which he defiantly moved his hand to the side – thus he showed that the girl could just as easily get out of the imaginary trap.

The video appeared on the Italian page on November 30 last year and gained more than 3.7 million views. Under the post, users began to criticize the dubious prank following Khabi: they joked about the girl’s ingenuity and called the prank itself stupid. Some even considered the original footage staged. “How did the girl not notice that someone was trying to fasten her leg?” one of the commentators was outraged.

Leim ended up making similar videos and making fun of the useless and ridiculous hacks that TikTok is known for. So, in one of the videos (108 million views), he mocked the way to organize the space in the kitchen, which was invented by one of the bloggers. The author of the life hack promised to show how to put a pot in the refrigerator that does not fit there with a lid. To do this, he recommended that viewers unscrew the handle from the lid of the pot, then turn the lid over and place the handle on it. Leim responded by suggesting a simpler and less time-consuming option – just put the lid with the handle down.

In another video (157 million views), a young man criticized a useless life hack for peeling cherries. The hero of the original video used a special device: he put berries in it, and then removed the twigs. Habi found a much more obvious way to solve this problem: he showed that it is enough to pick up a cherry and pull on a branch – in the end, it will easily come off by itself.

In another TikTok video (234 million views), the Italian ridiculed a popular online way to tear off a piece of pizza: for this, life hack lovers were offered to use a plastic rack, which is often placed in a box. In the response video, Leim simply tore off a piece with his hands.

“I learn more from him than at school”, “He is too brilliant for this world”, “Habi especially went and bought a pizza to show how to do it right,” commentators admire Leim’s advice.

Usually, in his videos, the Italian does not say a word. Instead, he uses techniques that are understandable to a person from any corner of the globe. “It’s all about facial expressions and gestures,” Lame explains in an interview with journalists from The New York Times. “People laugh at them because it’s a universal language.”

The blogger’s calling card is the gesture that he shows at the end of almost every video: Leim raises his hands with his palms up and points to an easy solution, as if hinting at the narrow-mindedness of those who complicate simple tasks. This gesture has already become a meme: photos of the Italian began to be used online to evaluate other people’s advice as useless and ridiculous.

One of the most viewed videos (274 million views) in Leim’s account was his response to a life hack, the audience of which was promised to be taught how to peel bananas. To separate the pulp from the peel, the authors of the original video used a knife. The blogger also showed that a banana is much easier and faster to peel with your hands. “What would I do without him?”, “Was it possible, or what?”, “The smartest life hack,” the commentators ironically, along with Leim.

In early May, Xabi even starred with an Italian celebrity – the famous football player Alessandro Del Piero, a former striker of the Juventus club. Together with the athlete, he mocked at the video in which the man tried to divide the apple into two equal parts with his bare hands. In a response video, Leim cut the fruit with a knife and handed it to Del Piero.