Once You Go Black You Never Go Back (TikTok Trend)

About

Once You Go Black You Never Go Back, continued This Was Just a Saying to Me Until I Experienced It Myself Firsthand, refers to a TikTok sound and trend that uses a text-to-speech audio from a video posted by Somali restaurant owner Mohammad Abdi for the London-based Damal Restaurant in 2023. The sound gained usage from women who lip-dubbed it, attesting that they dated or slept with a Black man and "never went back" to a man of another race. The trend gained cross-platform attention on Twitter in July 2023, as well as notable usage from Black men on TikTok.

Origin

On July 6th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @damalrestaurant posted a promotion video for Damal Restaurant, a Somali restaurant in London, England. The video used stock videos and an AI-generated voice that recited, "Once you go Black, you never go back. This was just a saying to me until I experienced it myself firsthand." The voice then namedropped the restaurant's owner Mohammad Abdi. Over the course of one month, the video gained roughly 2.1 million plays and 251,400 likes (shown below).

"Once you go Black, you never go back." This was just a saying to me until I experienced it myself firsthand. Mohammad Abdi was his name. We used to walk past each other at work and I used to think, "Wow, look at that dump truck." My intrusive thoughts urged me to squeeze it. You see, I'd been going to the gym for three years and still I could never compete. So, one day I asked him, "Where did you get such an ass?" He turned around, cheeks flaring and said, "So, I'm guessing you've never tried Somali food?" "No, show me," I said eagerly. So, he took me down to this place called Damal and treated me to the wonderful cuisine. With every bite I took, I could feel the xalimo physique coming through. For the next few weeks, I came every day for lunch and it's safe to say I am now built like a Somali and I love it.

On July 21st, 2023, TikToker^[2] @luvv_.heaven posted a video in which she and her friend lip-dubbed the audio, becoming the first to do so on the platform. Over the course of 10 days, the video gained roughly 487,000 plays and 114,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

Going into July 2023, various women on TikTok went viral for lip-dubbing the audio. For instance, on July 27th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @lavahoee posted a video in which she lip-dubbed it, gaining roughly 128,400 likes in four days (shown below, left). Black men on TikTok also used the sound, such as TikToker^[4] @loveorhatesk on July 30th, whose video received roughly 174,800 plays and 28,300 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Also on July 30th, Twitter^[5] user @Zvbear tweeted a screen recording of himself scrolling through the TikTok videos with the sound, captioning it, "This TikTok trend is going to start a war." The tweet received roughly 20,000 likes in one day (shown below).

This TikTok trend is going to start a war pic.twitter.com/eofG5w9W7d

— , (@Zvbear) July 30, 2023

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References