Bricked Up

About

Bricked Up is a slang term that refers to having an erection. The term was popularized in February 2020 when musician Jack Harlow shared which cartoon characters got him "bricked up" during a Genius "Verified" video and became increasingly popularized over the following years. In late 2022, TikToker @itsjp69 started a comedic series of videos in which he watches viral content suggested by viewers, including shock videos until he gets "bricked up."

Origin

On February 11th, 2020, the Genius YouTube^[1] channel uploaded a Verified video where Jack Harlow explains the lyrics to his song "WHATS POPPIN," garnering over 4.9 million views in three years. At the 2:48 minute mark, Harlow explains the lyrics, "Dark haired bitch and she look like Shego," referencing Shego from Kim Possible. He then proceeds to talk about which cartoon characters from childhood got him "bricked up" (shown below). The term was defined on Urban Dictionary^[2] that day, garnering over 2,800 upvotes in the same timeframe.

Spread

The term became increasingly prevalent online over the following years as a humorous way to say "erect," appearing in image macros on sites like Instagram and becoming popularized on TikTok. For example, on March 16th, 2022, Instagram^[8] user epicjoko posted a meme of Talking Ben using the caption, garnering over 470,000 likes in a year (shown below, left). On July 18th, 2022, Instagram^[6] user catgirlsarepraxis posted a Cuphead meme using the term, which was reposted by Instagram^[7] user inhalemybees on July 23rd, garnering over 28,000 likes in eight months (shown below, right).

Watching X Until I Get Bricked Up

On September 14th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @itsjp69 posted the first in an ongoing series of videos where he watches a piece of viral online content until he gets bricked up. In the first video, he watches Ice Spice's video for "Munch," garnering over 25,000 views in six months (shown below). In later videos, he takes suggestions from his viewers, many of which are shock videos.

The TikToker continued the series over the following months, going viral several times. For example, on December 11th, 2022, he posted a video to TikTok^[4] in the series watching the shock video No Mercy Mexico, garnering over 1.4 million views in three months (shown below, left). On February 3rd, 2023, he posted a video to TikTok^[5] watching Twitter user @cottontailva's content, garnering over 1.6 million views in a month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References