What does ‘what’s up brother’ mean on TikTok?

It’s impossible for anyone past their mid-20s to keep track of the many happenings on TikTok, which makes the emergence of new trends all the harder to understand.

It makes me feel absolutely ancient every time I’m forced to Google a fresh phrase as it floods the app, but here we are. Digging into the origins of yet another baffling TikTok trend, this time with delightfully wholesome origins. My investigation was prompted by a rise in videos of women, in response to a trend, approaching their male partners with a single finger extended and asking “what’s up brother.”

Women everywhere were delighted to find just how many men shared a general response to this strange introduction, and its all due to a popular streamer. Twitch creator Sketch serves as the inspiration for the trend, and his simple greeting is bringing the men of TikTok together.

Who is Sketch?

Sketch is a streamer over on Twitch, known largely for his video game streams — particularly of Madden NFL 24 — and occasional “just chatting” uploads. He boasts a fanbase more than 600,000 deep on the platform, and that’s on top of his more than 245,000 YouTube subscribers. He’s a popular figure in the streaming world, and some of his favorite phrases have become outright slogans among his fanbase. One of those, a common greeting from the creator, has become a rallying cry on TikTok, and men are flooding the trend it inspired.

What does “what’s up brother” mean?

A stitchable video appeared on TikTok in late March, challenging women to “walk up to your man right now and say ‘what’s up brother’ with a finger up.” Female TikTokers quickly took user @Donnie up on the request, and greeted their men as directed. In response, they rattled off a variety of clearly rehearsed responses, but all of them relate back to the same person: Our man Sketch.

See, Sketch often greets his viewers with a cheery “what’s up brother” before launching into his content, and its among several well-known phrases that tend to circulate in his community. Included alongside the simple greeting are favorite phrases like “Tuesday Tuesday” and “Special teams, special plays, special players.”

The Sketch love is widespread in the male-identifying community, it seems, as it’s rare that the TikTok trend results in any confusion from the men approached. On all but a few rare occasions the men in question perk up at the question, eye the raised finger, and respond with a chipper mimicry of their favorite Sketch moment.

So there you have it. A confusing TikTok trend with a simple, sweet origin. Our men are simply enjoying their moment, and engaging in a trend based around their new favorite streamer. Their shared knowledge of his catchphrases creates a connection between them all, and it’s honestly a beautiful thing to see.