Series 4

Further reading about the references made in Series 4, Cards 1-50 as well as links & original images (if available).

Series 4, Card 4 - SALTYTADPEPE

Series 4, Card 4 - SALTYTADPEPE was created by an unknown artist. They created a total of 4 cards for the Rare Pepe series including SADMILKPEPE and BLOCKPEPE. The background of the card is a section of the color woodblock print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)" by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai between 1830 and 1832.

Series 4, Card 13 - RPJAILEXIT

Series 4, Card 13 - RPJAILEXIT was created by the artist Yoni Terenzi, an Italian living in London. Yoni told me he made this card "dreaming to use it IRL to get out of troubles." He also made two of the earliest sports NFT's - RPEPEARMANDO and RAREPEPESS. In total Yoni made 9 cards for the Rare Pepe project.

The card is a copy of one of the many "Chance" cards that are part of the board game Monopoly. The original Get Out of Jail Free image has been used on everything from clothes to fine art. So it being part of the Rare Pepe project is no surprise.

Series 4, Card 14 - LEANPEPE

Series 4 Card 14 - LEANPEPE, created by the artist ICQ Pepe is an ultra rare 3 issue card meaning only 3 people can own this tribute to the rapper Yung Lean. Born Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad, this Swedish rapper, singer and songwriter rose to fame in 2013 with his song "Ginseng Strip 2002" from his debut EP Lavender EP.

Series 4, Card 15 - UNLUCKYPEPE

Series 4, Card 15 - UNLUCKYPEPE was created by the mysterious artist known only as "Dan Dark Pill" who has since removed his account from Twitter. Dan created some of the most valuable Rare Pepe cards in existence including two 1 of 1 cards - ONLYONEPEPE and REDPUTINPEPE. He also created a whole series of fine art parody pieces, the Putin Series, and the extremely rare 1 of 29 card DARKPILLPEPE.

The source image is a 10 year old meme known as "Bad Luck Brian" which has been used for years on redit for jokes relating to bad news.

Series 4, Card 24 - PEPEDANCE

Series 4, Card 24 - PEPEDANCE was created by the duo Nicolas Sierro (@NicolasSierro on Twitter) and Hilaire De Rien (@HilaireDeRien on Twitter). They also created the cards MARINEPEINE, NICOSARKOS, PEPEVIDEODRO, MONBOURARNO, and PEPETHSOG. While the card states that it is a tribute to the American dancer, actor, and singer Fred Astaire, the image the artists chose to display on the card is RanXerox from the Italian science fiction graphic novel series of the same name. Rare Pepe OG rarepepenews has an interview with Hilaire on his website here. The full comic book page is pictured below.

Series 4, Card 44 - RERERPERP

Series 4, Card 44 - RERERPERP was created by the artist known as Django Bits. He created a total of 13 cards for the Rare Pepe project including the extremely rare and valuable PEPEALASSAD.

The image on the card is from a meme that started in 2012 known as Ermahgerd. Django wrote the card as it is imagined the girl would talk. Part of the meme was that the captions were meant to sound like a speech impediment caused by the use of an orthodontic retainer. Many years later, it was revealed that the girl in the photo is a women named Maggie Goldenberger who is now a nurse in Arizona. You can read an interview about Maggie and the origins of the meme here.