In 2019, Daequan Loco was a member of the professional US esports organization Team SoloMid, known as TSM. He was also an extremely popular Twitch and YouTube content creator with millions of followers, regularly playing Fortnite and seeming at the top of his game. Then in January 2020, Daequan announced that he would be taking a break in order to focus on his health.
Daequan had spoken in the past about how an undiagnosed physical illness was affecting his life and had led to depression. He had taken brief breaks throughout 2019 because of this, and fans wished him the best and expected the content creator to make a quick return as usual. Daequan sporadically posted updates on Twitter throughout the year, livestreamed on Twitch once in March 2020, and promised to return to regular streaming soon. In November 2020, Daequan tweeted that he felt better than he had in years and then went almost entirely radio silent.
After a well-executed hype train beginning in late August, Daequan made his return to Twitch on September 4 at 4 PM PST. The stream lasted for four and a half hours and consisted primarily of Daequan giving a tour of the new house he is living in, chatting, and just generally having a good time. The channel is still called TSM_Daequan, though that is likely to change soon. After a yearlong absence, Daequan still had 3.7 million followers on Twitch, and that number grew to 4 million by the end of the livestream.
In the days preceding Daequan’s first livestream since March 2020, a few well-timed teases on social media built anticipation to ensure that the content creator’s return would be successful. In late August, “missing posters” began appearing around Los Angeles that asked, “Have you seen these streamers? Find the streamers.” They featured a photo of Daequan with Hamlinz, a fellow TSM esports team member who had also taken a lengthy hiatus due to health issues. A search uncovered a YouTube channel created on August 12 called “Find the Streamers,” and Hamlinz and Daequan tweeted a shifty-eye emoji at exactly the same time on August 24.
Then, a video surfaced showing the pair wearing not TSM gear, but the apparel of rival esports organization NRG. In response to the growing speculation, NRG posted an image on Twitter that showed a billboard of Daequan and Hamlinz with the word “Found.” The tweet teased that more would be shared on August 26 and, on that day, the company revealed that the two Fortnite players had indeed joined NRG and would be back to streaming soon. The “Find the Streamers” YouTube channel was renamed “NRG Thoom House,” which is a $7 million content house inhabited by Daequan Loco, Hamlinz, and other NRG members like Bow, Meteor, and Philly.