They Know What Is What But They Don't Know What Is What They Just Strut

About

They Know What Is What But They Don't Know What Is What They Just Strut, continued What The Fuck, is a lyrical phrase originally from the 2000 Roland Clark song "I Get Deep." It was sampled in Fatboy Slim's 2001 song "Star 69" and again in Katy Perry's 2017 song "Swish Swish." The phrase started to see use in memes around 2019. In 2021, an Original Sound consisting of the audio clip from Katy Perry's song became popularized on TikTok in lip-dub videos.

Origin

In 2000, house music producer Roland Clark released the song "I Get Deep," containing the lyrics, "They know what is what but they don't know what is what they just strut, what the fuck" (shown below).

On April 23rd, 2001, Fatboy Slim^[1] released the song "Star 69," which includes a modified sample of the Roland Clark lyrics over a beat (shown below, left). On May 19th, 2017, Katy Perry^[2] then released "Swish Swish" featuring Nicki Minaj, which samples the phrase from "Star 69" pitched down (shown below, right).

Spread

The lyrics inspired a number of memes following the release of Katy Perry's song. For example, on February 19th, 2019, Instagram^[3][4] page 6amgroup posted a pie chart referencing the lyrics, gaining over 2,300 likes in two years (shown below, left). On December 11th, 2020, the same page posted a They Don't Know meme using the lyrics, gaining over 1,100 likes in 10 months (shown below, right).

TikTok

On October 3rd, 2021, TIkToker^[5] @lacrioxlover6969 posted an audio clip of the sample from "Swish Swish," captioned "IM LAUGHING SO HARD AT THIS," gaining over 1.3 million views in two weeks. The Original Sound^[6] became popular over the course of the month in lip dubs and skits. On October 6th, TikToker @j0mgl0m posted a skit about sleep talking using the sound, gaining over 2.6 million views in a week (shown below, left). On October 12th, TikToker @derkslurp posted a video holding a turkey baster and a douche^[7] in front of his parents, using the sound's lyrics to imply one of his parents doesn't know what it is (shown below, right). At the end of the video, his dad asks what it is. The video gained over 6.5 million views in a week.

On October 18th, TikToker @aprilf00lsday posted a video approaching two girls and saying the phrase, after which they walk away, gaining over a million views in a day (shown below). By October 19th, the Original Sound had been used over 13,000 times on TikTok.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References