"Where the Hoes At?" / When the Hoes Arrive

About

"Where the Hoes At?" / When the Hoes Arrive, also known as When the Hoes Actually Pull Up and Checking the Weather App at the Party on TikTok, refers to a cliché in memes about a male friend who consistently asks, "Where the hoes at?" but when they actually show up to the party, he instead acts shy and does not approach them, or checks his phone compulsively, aimlessly scrolling to appear busy. Spawned by a viral Facebook meme, the cliché achieved viral popularity on TikTok in mid-2021

Origin

On November 6th, 2020, Facebook^[1] page Rappers In Peculiar Places posted a collage that included several Staring Animals memes, including Staring Kanye, Tyler the Creator's Mugshot and American Psycho Business Card Scene, captioned, "Where the hoes at?" / The same mfs when the hoes arrive." The post (shown below) gained over 5,800 reactions and 4,500 shares in two years. On January 6th, 2021, Instagram^[3] page floppaworld posted a Big Floppa version of the meme that gained over 730 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Spread

On November 26th, 2020, Facebook^[2] page Voidposting shared the earliest derivative meme based on the format, a Void meme that gained over 1,700 retweets and 1,600 shares in two years (shown below, left).

In May 2021, the format spread to TikTok. On May 8th, 2021, TikToker^[4] lilfigiwater posted a video with text overlay reading, "when the h*es actually pull up:" showing himself shaking, drinking water and aimlessly scrolling through his iPhone. Additionally, the TikTok used the "Sad Steel Lick" sound from SpongeBob SquarePants. In one year, the video earned roughly 5.3 million views and 866,500 likes (shown below, left).

On the same day, other TikTokers posted copy-cat videos that also earned mass engagement. For instance, TikToker^[5] pierogrieco posted a video with a similar theme that earned roughly 99,700 plays and 17,100 likes in one year (shown below, left). TikToker^[6] jamesm133 also posted a video on the 8th, earning roughly 303,300 plays and 54,200 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

The cliché began to solidify going into the remainder of 2021 with what the men were scrolling through on their phones becoming more absurd. For instance, on July 16th, 2021, TikToker^[7] claudialynch2 showed his friend on the calculator app at a party, gaining roughly 8 million plays and 916,100 likes over the course of nine months (shown below, left). On October 15th, 2021, TikToker^[8] gmarin10 posted a video that was originally filmed on Snapchat, showing his friend scrolling through a weather app on his phone. The TikTok video earned roughly 1.2 million plays and 61,200 likes over the course of six months (shown below, right).

More viral posts based on the format were posted on Twitter and other platforms in late 2021 and 2022. For example, on May 16th, 2022, Twitter^[9] user @cleoofffilm posted a meme that gained over 1.4 million views, 4,900 retweets and 49,000 likes in two months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References