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Internet Culture

What does ‘pushin’ P’ mean on TikTok?

Gunna’s new song brings P to TikTok.

Photo of Audra Schroeder

Audra Schroeder

P emoji pattern

In early January, rapper Gunna tweeted, “Jumpin n a person beef or situation when u dk wats goin on Not P.” He used the blue P emoji in that tweet and others, as he attempted to define what it is to push P, and what is and isn’t P.

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According to Gunna, P can mean “paper” or “player” but he also applies it to a more positive, drama-free approach to money and life. “Fucking your partner’s main bitch, that ain’t P,” Gunna said on Instagram Live.

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As Blavity notes, pushing P was already slang in the South and Bay Area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF4OSP462C4
https://www.tiktok.com/@nathan.beasley23/video/7053139101314288942
https://www.tiktok.com/@ladariusmaybin/video/7052708146829151534
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Soon P spread to TikTok, where videos from early January reference Gunna and his song with Future, “Pushin’ P,” which has been used in more than 500,000 TikToks. Once it started to spread, the definition expanded: Weather man Nick Kosir referenced P on air, and the song made it to fishing TikTok. There’s a dance. Kim Kardashian referenced it on Instagram.

https://www.tiktok.com/@fwbarok/video/7053781309247950126

Another strain developed within the trend: People showing how they sleep unaware of what P means. And, of course, people watering down P.

https://www.tiktok.com/@itzyediel/video/7054049324245830958
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The watering down was already in motion when IHOP tried to get in on the trend, with a Jan. 19 tweet about “pushing pancakes,” though Gunna gave them his support.

But even Gunna has reimagined what pushin’ P means, in a video feature Pusha T and Pharrell.

https://www.tiktok.com/@gunna/video/7056407539856215343
 
The Daily Dot