When Megan Thee Stallion’s “Big Ole Freak” landed on Billboard’s Hot 100 in April, it was a testament to years of viral freestyles and her devoted “hotties,” whose faithful support on social media helped the song rise to mainstream recognition. The 24-year-old has been prolific—her evolution is displayed through the invention of various rap personas, such as Tina Snow, Megan Thee Stallion, and Hot Girl Meg, the turn-up queen with serious ambition on her mind. “We have so many legends and so many greats,” she recently said of her hometown of Houston, Texas. “But I don’t feel like we ever really had a female rapper from Houston or Texas shut that shit down.” With her debut project Fever, she hopes to succeed in doing just that.
At its core is the intersection of two beautiful rap legacies: the women rap tradition started by MC Lyte and Queen Latifah, and Southern rap dynasty ushered in by Houston’s Geto Boys and Underground Kings. From the first song, Megan weaponizes misogyny through the execution of bars worthy of XXL Freshman Class President. South Park’s influence, home to fellow Houston legends Scarface and Lil’ Keke, is felt throughout “Hood Rat Shit,” which transitions into an ass-and clit-eating tutorial for her male tricks on “Pimpin,” where the spirit of Houston’s pimp tradition is embedded within every word. Sinister beats by producers Concept P and KC Supreme amplify Megan’s dedication to her set and willingness to actively to engage in ghetto affairs, despite her newfound rich bitch lifestyle. The track serves as a compliment to Juicy J’s production, which empowered Megan’s passionate highlight reel of recent wins of Houston’s champ.
Reminiscent of Pam Grier’s dynasty of heroine Blaxploitation films that inspired Fever’s album cover, Megan’s sexual politics take center stage. For decades, black women in rap have been reduced to one-dimensional characters that lacked complexity, but Megan asserts herself as “Thee Stallion” and undoes the historically male-centered framework in favor of black women’s sexual narratives. Her assertiveness in the fulfillment of sexual desires and pleasures is highlighted by Southern laced samples of UGK, Three 6 Mafia, and Project Pat to illustrate a sizzurp-induced night of ecstasy, where Megan is in charge of her body, and models to “hotties” how to enjoy theirs.
“Nine times out of 10, I’m the realest bitch you know/If you ain’t want a pimp then what you fuckin’ with me for,” she raps in “Running Up Freestyle,” challenging any pimps wary of power. Megan’s delivery of perfectly executed bars are comparable to successions from a fully automatic machine gun; a carefully studied aim of fiery stanzas that could only be carried by a rapper with extensive knowledge of the genre’s early practices of battle rap. Her reign is amplified by the embrace of a rich bitch identity, who takes pleasure in ending the lives of those attempt to block her financial avenues and asserts herself as the number one pimp in “Money Good.”
Departing from Tina Snow (her pimp persona), Megan shows us more of theHot Girl Meg on “Sex Talk” where the party girl finds sweet delight in ruining her partner’s life in an endless night of cowgirl and oral sex. Although the track’s origins are rooted in sex positivity, its stanzas reveal a character who is all assertion and dominance. It isn’t until “Shake That”—a song that delightfully includes a tribute to Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.’s talent for cunnilingus—that you sense a few cracks in the project, both in sound and subject, that Megan is still finding out what works and what doesn’t for her singular style. Though, imagine being heralded as the future of Houston rap, an iconic sound that marries generational, regional, and gendered heritages of her intersecting identities as a black woman from the South. It's a journey.
Just a few months ago, Megan Thee Stallion lost her mother, Holly Thomas, to brain cancer. She was one of her biggest influences, taking her to the studio when she was young to witness her laying down tracks as the rapper Holly-Wood. In the harder tracks on Fever, you can almost see Megan’s mother sparring with daughter, each of them delivering Rocky Balboa-blows to the jaw, becoming stronger together. Megan Thee Stallion is now a piece of Houston’s heart, so when you listen to Fever, you hear lean-induced nights at the strip club, freestyles in South Park, house parties at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern University, but most importantly you’re starting to hear her. She has prepared her whole life for the opportunity to challenge the coastal elites for a seat at rap’s table, and Fever is her folding chair.
