Brainrot has reached the NBA… and I love it
Boom or Doom? but how do we balance the brainrot?
Subway rides to write this: 6
Has anyone else seen this?
It popped up on my fyp last week.
It’s a video of NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam imitating viral creator No Neck Jay.
And it was created by Pascal himself—not some meme page.
I encourage you to watch the video to get a sense of today’s topic—brainrot content in the NBA.
But before that, let me provide some context for those who aren’t chronically online.
What is brainrot content?
Brett Dashevsky from Creator Economy NYC explained that brainrot content is…
“content that's often absurdist, nonsensical, or seemingly pointless, yet highly engaging and shareable. It's the kind of content that makes you question why you're watching it, but you can't seem to stop”— (Brett Dashevsky, Creator Economy NYC newsletter #45)
I think brainrot is a heavy word.
If we’re being honest, the word comes from a place of jealousy and ego.
We just can’t accept that doing something so “stupid” actually yields status, attention, and/or money.
It’s especially frustrating to people working regular 9-5 jobs doing “real” work.
I have nothing but respect for the “brainrot” content because it takes courage to post publicly like that.. and hey, it’s clearly working when NBA players are jumping on the trend…
…like Pascal imitating No Neck Jay.
Who is No Neck Jay?
No Neck Jay is a creator going viral for his (1) no-neck appearance, (2) entertaining personality, and (3) unique mannerisms.
People especially enjoy watching his food reviews because of his catchy intro and quick one-liners—not because of his culinary expertise.
His confidence has also gotten him other viral moments on shows like Dating Shows.
But I’ll just focus on his food review content today… here’s the one Pascal re-created.
Each review starts with the same intro,
“AAAANNN. It’s ya boy seyumsayin… Noneckjay back in this muuuufuucckaaa”
Idk what “seyumsayin” is lol.
But you gotta listen to the way he delivers it.
The hand gestures. The cadence. The delivery. The heavy Atlanta accent.
They all play a factor in why people continue to watch.
Why do I love this brainrot?
Growing up, NBA players—hopefully unintentionally—give the impression that they are better than regular people.
They’re too “cool” for us.
Like if you look at an NBA player the wrong way at a game, then security is probably going to kick you out lol.
But this video of Pascal shows that he’s just like one of us…
…a regular guy.
I do that type of sh*t with my friends.
I do that type of sh*t in the mirror when I’m home alone.
He made me feel seen in basketball culture because of the brainrot content lol.
And it’s not just NBA players catching onto the brainrot, NBA teams are too…
Boom or doom?
If you have a phone addiction like me, then you’ve probably also seen these creators.
A.J. & Big Justice are a father-son duo best know as the “Costco Guys”
They have a love for the Chicken Bake and Double Chunk Chocolate Cookie.
And they love to rate things a Boom (good) or Doom (bad).
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They’re friends with another creator called The Rizzler.
He’s an elementary school kid that’s chubby and has a lot of rizz (slang for charisma).
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Almost any video they create right now goes viral.
Which is probably why the New York Knicks invited them to play in their celebrity game.
It was super smart to jump on this wave.
Or maybe the Rizzler rizzed them up to make this happen haha.
Balancing the brainrot?
But this begs the question…
How do you balance brainrot with culture?
For example, George Messiah is an NYC Streetball legend with over 100K followers.
And it when it comes to the Knicks, Messiah is a true celebrity.
He has even been in commercial for the team.
I went to a Knicks watch party at MSG with Messiah last season, and we could not move freely without taking a picture with fans every other minute.
Here’s a video I made that highlights this… even Spike Lee liked it!
It would have been nice to see Messiah in the Knicks celebrity game.
He speaks to NYC basketball culture and is known as the 1v1 boss.
So imagine if he was playing the other celebrities 1v1 in warms up.
That would be so viral.
Using brainrot to jump on trends is one thing, but if you can authentically integrate brainrot content with grassroots culture, then you can have greater reach and impact.
So maybe next year we make Messiah vs Big A.J. happen?
I want to see Messiah say BOOOOM!
“Subway rides to write this” is a metric I share at the start of every blog to show that making content doesn’t need to be so difficult. You can find the time to create during everyday activities.
Each subway ride for me is ~15-30 minutes long.
Also…
Please note: some of my new blogs (Sept’24 and beyond) contain a lot of satire and should not always be taken at face value.
Expect to see typos, wordy/repetitive sentences, passive voice, and anything else you’d expect from a “D-” graded high school assignment.
Because that’s my writing ability according to my first ever hate comment back in 2018.