Originally a freestyle song created by hyperpop artist ericdoa, the audio clip of the artist saying "Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade" quickly became viral on TikTok after it was reposted on the ericdoaclips page. Soon after, many fandoms would expand upon this audio clip, creating their redraws of the meme where various characters would get their own "Low Taper Fade".

But what is the low taper fade art trend? And what makes having random characters in pop culture get their taper haircut so funny? Here's everything you need to know.

What Is A Low Taper Fade?

A low taper fade is a type of haircut where your scalp is gradually exposed on both sides of your head, starting close to the ears. This type of haircut is incredibly popular and usually requested by younger folk who go to the barber. Its prevalence in meme culture is in how odd and modern-looking it looks on various pop culture characters. Examples include Ganon getting this haircut (shown below, left) and even Rayman (shown below, right).

What Is The Origin Of The "Low Taper Fade" Art Trend?

The origin of the art trend comes from a parody song called "Imagine If Ninja Got A Low Taper Fade", referring to the popular Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. On January 5th, 2024, ericdoa freestyled for about an hour on Twitch, and then sang "Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade." The clip was then uploaded to Tiktok on January 11th, where it gained 1.4 million views in a day. (shown below)

@ericdoaclips Ericdoa ponders what famous twitch streamer “ninja” might look like with a low taper fade during his twitch performance #ericdoaclips #ericdoa #twitchclips #liveperformance #funny #viral #fyp ♬ Low Taper Fade ericdoa – ericdoaclips

The audio became viral on TikTok, inspiring various reactions and memes. Eventually, Ninja himself reacted to the clip and posted a duet video showing off his actual low taper fade haircut (shown below).

@ninja #duet with @ericdoaclips #ericdoaclips ♬ Low Taper Fade ericdoa – ericdoaclips

On August 17th, 2021, X user @HayaSe44mi posted a tweet that featured Jujutsu Kaisen character Choso giving fellow JJK character Aoi Todo a haircut resembling a low taper fade. After the initial virality of Ninja's Low Taper fade song, this image would be further used to create various redraws of the original (shown below).

How Is The Trend Used In Memes?

Going into February 2024, more and more redraws started to spread across the internet. Featuring different pop culture characters getting the elusive "low taper fade." One example included Sonic giving Shadow a low taper fade (shown below, left), another user @dieujuu posted an Adventure Time iteration, captioned "Imagine if Finn got a LOW TAPER FADE🗣️‼️" (shown below, right).

For the full history of the low taper fade trend, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.