Popular Twitch streamer Ninja gets ‘low taper fade’ haircut after 21-year-old’s song goes viral

Eric Lopez, professionally known as @ericdoa, has already accomplished a lot for a 21-year-old. The singer and music producer has over 38,000 followers on SoundCloud and 25,000 on Twitch, the live-streaming platform utilized by popular video game players and other creators. For Lopez, he regularly goes live on Twitch and streams himself toying around with musical instruments or just talking to fans.

And now, he can add “created a viral TikTok sound” and “influenced popular Twitch streamer” to his resume.

During an hour-long Twitch stream on Jan. 5 — titled “?” — Lopez freestyled various songs that dealt with his career, life and Twitch. But what caught the attention of millions of people, subsequently turning into a TikTok sound that’s been hashtagged in over 15 million videos, was Lopez saying, “Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade.” The line, which Lopez seemingly made up on the spot, refers to the popular Twitch streamer and a specific haircut.

The sound subsequently took off — just in time to generate buzz around Lopez’s album drop on Jan. 19. There are emo edits, Fortnite references, spin-offs and even the Brooklyn Nets have used the sound in a TikTok that’s been watched by over 2 million people.

Who is Ninja?

Ninja, 32, whose real name is Richard Blevins, is a streamer, YouTuber and professional gamer in Chicago. His fame is attributed to him playing Fortnite Battle Royale in late 2017, which led to him playing the game with Drake, Travis Scott and JuJu Smith-Schuster on his channel. As of January, he is currently the most-followed Twitch streamer with 19 million subscribers.

Ninja first reacted to Lopez’s lyrics in a video on Jan. 13, which accumulated 5.5 million views.

So, does Ninja have a 'low taper fade'?

As of Jan. 15, Ninja claims he now has a low taper fade — but whether the haircut is an accurate low taper fade seems to be up for debate in the comments. (The NFL seems to have taken a stance in a reposted video, which got almost 16 million views.)

“Imagine if ninja knew what a low taper fade was,” one TikTok user parodied in the comments on Ninja’s video.

As an online public figure, Ninja has been the face of memes and internet trends before. His first one, from New Year’s Eve 2018, is when he tried and failed to get all of Times Square to do the floss dance at the same time.