When Sergio Kitchens, more commonly known as rapper Gunna, released his third album DS4Ever in January 2021, it received critical acclaim. In fact, according to the New York Times, in the first week of release, the album sold over 150,000 copies, surprisingly beating the sales of global popstar The Weeknd’s new album. 

Many fans were intrigued by one of the album’s lead songs called “pushin P”. In the song, Kitchens mentions the title phrase multiple times in different contexts. In total, he says a variation of “pushin P” 49 times within the 2 minute song. With little to no idea of the meaning, fans took to the internet to find out.

Within hours of the release, the phrase became trending on Twitter. Users bombarded the musical artist with questions. Instead of answering them directly, Kitchens decided to leave them on a cliffhanger to stir up more hype. He tweeted, “B4 I tell u…What u think Pushing P mean????” This generated over 27,000 likes and hundreds of comments speculating the meaning.

At the time, it seemed as if the phrase was everywhere. After the spike on Twitter, the popularity also shifted to Instagram, Snapchat, and especially to Tiktok. As of March 21st, there have been over 750,000 videos on Tiktok made to the sound. With so much hype surrounding the phrase, Gunna was forced to explain it.

On January 14th, he appeared on a popular radio show. Of course, the interviewers asked him immediately about the entire situation, then prompting him to explain what the phrase meant. He detailed that the “P” meant “playa”, but it was not limited to that. Essentially, he explained that anyone could use “pushin P” to describe something that is positive in life. 

In order to expand on this appearance, Kitchens also appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden. There, he provided a further explanation to Corden, saying “See how you got your late late show, and today you’re supporting me, that’s P right there.” Going on the show exemplified a new meaning to the phrase and brought him even more publicity.

To this point, it’s clear that this trend has expanded from just a song and obscure slang to mainstream and daily lingo. Without even intending, Gunna has revolutionized daily lingo and the phrase “pushin P” will continued to be used for years to come.