'Pushin P' Is Now a Viral Trend on TikTok, but What Does the Phrase Mean?

Launching new music has never been a more confusing process than it is in 2022, when you can take advantage of a wide array of platforms to get discovered. Some of the most popular acts to launch in recent years have TikTok and other social media platforms to thank for their initial success. A new trend spreading wildly on the platform features a recently released track prominently, and many want to know what the track means.

"Pushin P" is actually a song from Atlanta based rapper Gunna that was released earlier this month in collaboration with Young Thug and Future. The song quickly went viral after its release, and is now spreading across TikTok and other social media platforms. Even as the song has gained popularity, though, plenty of people are still confused about what the title is actually referring to.

"Pushing P" is actually a regional phrase that some parts of the country, and the South in particular, have been using for years. In other regions of the US, though, the phrase is basically meaningless. Thankfully, Gunna has explained what the phrase means personally on Twitter after he claimed that the letter "P" stands for "player" during an interview on The Breakfast Club.

Although there's no precise definition, "pushing P" essentially means keeping it real, and is generally a quality that is viewed favorably.

“Being Loyal Is definitely P,” he wrote.

“Jumping in a person beef or situation when you don't know what's going on, Not 🅿️,” he continued. After explaining what the term means on Twitter, Gunna also took to Instagram Live to provide more example of what was and was not considered "P."

“F--king your partner’s main b---h, that ain’t P,” he explained.“You see a lady at the door, you hold the door for the lady bro, that’s P. We pushing P, you feel me? I ain’t too tough, arguing with my partner about no money like, we ain’t going back and forth. That ain’t P.”

Although Gunna usually uses "p" to refer to "player," some also use the term when referring to "paper."

Even as Gunna has begun clarifying exactly what his song is referring to, the song itself, and the phrase at its center, have gone super viral TikTok. The phrase's inherent virality has meant that videos featuring the hashtag have been viewed millions of times. Gunna has even gotten in on the fun himself, responding to certain popular videos to grade how accurately they used the term.

"Pushing P" is just the latest piece of viral slang that has gone mainstream thanks in large part to its use on social media. Many of the phrases that have become popular thanks to TikTok originated on the platform, but that isn't the case here. Instead, "pushing P" has gone quickly from a phrase used in one region of the country to something that most people on social media are at least aware of.