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The Texas-born, Grammy-winning, chart-topping rapper forges a cathartic path as she prepares for a new album and the Hot Girl Summer tour.
PHOTOGRAPHY Quil Lemons
STYLED BY ERIC ARCHIBALD
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Three-time Grammy Award–winning 29-year-old rapper Megan Thee Stallion (given name Megan Jovon Ruth Pete) is in the midst of an ongoing metamorphosis. Just like she revealed on her Billboard No.1 diss track, “Hiss,” released earlier this year to sheer pandemonium, Megan is shedding toxicity in her life. Over an ominous piano riff, the Houston, Texas native takes subliminal shots at the challengers to her peace, rapping, “I’m finna get this shit off my chest and lay it to rest/Let’s go!” The self-funded track off her new production company, Hot Girl Productions, showed Megan was moving with a renewed sense of self. Megan’s latest single, “Boa,” released in May, further emphasizes her ongoing journey from stallion to serpent. “Bitches is bitter, they thought it was sweet/All of a sudden they vegan, they don’t want beef/Talkin’ outta veeners, I’m knockin’ out teeth,” she raps.
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Fans have been charting the Southern superstar’s ascent, from battling in local ciphers to topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Megan shot to fame in Spring 2020 at the age of 25 after her anthem “Savage,” in praise of the multidimensional modern woman, went viral and launched a TikTok dance craze that entertained the quarantined masses. The hit endeared her to legions of fans—or “Hotties,” as Megan has dubbed her following. The performer, whose stage name was inspired by her statuesque frame, was a refreshing addition to the female hip-hop canon, with work espousing empowerment, an unapologetic sex appeal, and a carefree Black girl spirit. Just ask the inimitable Beyoncé, who jumped onto the remix of “Savage,” earning them both Grammys in 2021 for Best Rap Song. Megan took home two other Grammys that year, including Best New Artist.
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A succession of chart-topping, cultural-shifting hits followed. There was “WAP,” her deliciously dirty 2020 duet with Cardi B, and 2021’s “Body,” from her second album, Traumazine, which gave praise to her COVID-thick frame. Like any rap titan, Megan segued her lyrical talents into prosperous business ventures outside of music: she became the new face of Revlon, developed her own secret “Hottie Sauce” for Popeyes Louisiana Chicken, and gave us Hotties prudent fiscal advice with the help of Cash App. And she did it all while completing an undergrad degree in health administration from Texas Southern University.
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“Everybody puts on a face or a costume or a facade like, I’m happy. I’m happy. I’m happy.”
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As Megan navigated fame, she also navigated tragedy. In 2019, the rapper lost two significant maternal figures within months of one another when her mother and manager, Holly “Holly-Wood” Thomas, succumbed to a battle with brain cancer, and her grandmother passed shortly thereafter. A year later, Megan was shot in both of her feet by rapper and former friend Tory Lanez after an argument. She became the target of a torrent of misogynoir, a particularly sinister brand of online misogyny that specifically targets Black women. Fighting off trolls and even her male rapper peers, Megan was forced to publicly defend her own innocence in the court of public opinion before being vindicated last year when Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the assault. She was also embroiled in a back-and-forth legal battle with her former record company, 1501 Productions, that she finally settled last fall. Megan mitigated that pain in real time, sharing with her fans and in her music how the escalating trauma had taken a sizable toll on her mental health and led to depression. Even while this story was being written, the rapper found herself the target of a lawsuit by a former cameraman who accused Megan of creating a hostile work environment. Her lawyer Alex Spiro said in a statement, “This is an employment claim for money—with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her.”
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Through deep solitude, therapy, and a focus on wellness, Megan is returning to form with her third album and a nearly sold-out “Hot Girl Summer” tour that kicks off this May. Sitting down with L’OFFICIEL over Zoom, Megan gets vulnerable.
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L’OFFICIEL: Is it hard to always show up as your authentic self?
Megan Thee Stallion: In my earlier come-up days, it was definitely easier to show up as myself because I really didn’t understand being famous. I didn’t understand not giving all of yourself to everybody all the time. I didn’t understand boundaries. I didn’t have any boundaries. I was just living. And as I keep growing, I understand, Okay, y’all don’t need all of this all the time. I could still be me, but there does need to be a respect level that I have for myself.
L’O: I read somewhere you were saying that there’s a constant pressure for you to be happy. And you’re breaking out of that.
MTS: When you are going through a depression or when you are going through sadness…you don’t want to put that on other people. You don’t want to be the dark cloud of your friend group. You don’t want to be a burden. Everybody puts on a face or a costume or a facade. I was one of those people who definitely was always like, I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m strong, I’m tough. I got this, I can do this. But then it got to a point where I really couldn’t hide it anymore—at least in my personal life—and I was just like, “Forget this. I’m sad. What are we going to do about this?”
L’O: Where are you now on your mental health journey?
MTS: I don’t want to be my old self anymore because I don’t think I was processing my feelings properly. I was the type of person who worked through everything. Like, Forget it. I’m going to just go to work. Fill up my schedule. I want to do everything. I don’t even want to think about it. But now I’m like, Well, wait a minute. Let me take my days to myself. I do have boundaries now. The way that I love myself is so different from the way that I did love myself… I’m not doing things to make other people happy. I’m just all about Megan right now, and I love it. I hope that I can continue this way.
L’O: How did you get there? Obviously, therapy played a part, but is there anything else that you did that made you look at yourself differently?
MTS: Even though I went through a lot of bad things, it really made me have to spend time by myself, which I really appreciate. I had to be by myself to figure out, Why is it so hard for you to be by yourself? Why are you constantly needing to be around so many people at one time? Why can’t you just go in your room and hang out by yourself? I needed to step back and look at what I was doing. Shit, I would walk around and talk out loud and just work through what I was feeling, and I started to tell myself the truth about the way I was feeling. Sometimes, you don’t want to say things out loud for yourself, but when I got comfortable with myself, and being by myself, that’s when I started having a new appreciation for myself. Once I [started] trusting myself and being nicer to myself and setting boundaries, my self-love kept rising.
L’O: Being from the South, I knew when I grew up that my family would be like, “Oh baby, all you need to do is pray.”
MTS: “Go drink some water and lie down.”
“I like darker things. I like things that are a little scary.”
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L’O: Were there cultural taboos that you had to challenge on your path toward mental health?
MTS: Definitely. My mom was so tough, and my grandmother was so tough. My other grandmother, who is currently alive, is also so tough. I’ve just seen them work, work, work, work my whole life. So, I didn’t really understand where we were financially because they just made everything look so good. They made everything look so easy. My mama did everything and she just looked like a baddie all the time. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized that we were not rich at all, and we were struggling, and I did need to get a job…. Now, the veil is lifted from over my eyes. I can see because I’m starting to understand money. Being an adult, I’m like, Oh my God. I could see my mama was going through it, but she never let that touch me. My dad passed away when I was young, so she really was trying to take care of both of us. I wish she would’ve got help. I wish she would’ve talked to a therapist or something. I wish she could have been able to talk to somebody to just lessen that load or however she was feeling. Now that I’m in those shoes, I’m like, Man, I don’t want to carry that. I want to be strong. I don’t think therapy makes me weak, even though I did for a long time because in the Black community, therapy to me meant you were crazy.
L’O: You are letting it out in your work, especially. You are literally saying, “I got to get this off my chest…’ “Hiss” is obviously a Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hit and took the world by storm. Did you know it was going to make that impact? And how long had you been holding all of that in?
MTS: I absolutely did not know it was going to do all of that! I had no clue that was going to happen. I had been holding in feelings for a while. I felt like everybody was kicking me when I was down. It felt good to finally be able to just talk my talk because I was in a place where I was so down, and I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt any kind of peace. I felt like, Oh, Megan Thee Stallion, everybody hates you right now. Don’t you say a word. Just be quiet.
L’O: Did you really feel like everybody hated you at a certain point?
MTS: Yes. I felt so awful every day. It was such a hard place to get out of. I don’t even want to care who hates me, really. What I should be focusing on is the love that I do receive. That’s what I’m trying to get better about now. Everything is not going to be great all the time. If I’m going to be here for the cheers, I got to be here for the boos.
L’O: That’s a dark hole to go down when you feel like everybody hates you. Is there pressure for female rappers to be nice all the time and to keep it polite and keep it cute?
MTS: For female rappers, there’s a line that you don’t want to cross. You want to be Miss Congeniality. You want to be well liked by everyone. You want to be the baddest, you want to be the best, but you want to do it the right way. I did have to learn that there is no right way. Whoever you are, be that. If you crazy, be crazy. If you nice, be nice. If you mean, be mean. If you sad, be sad. Whatever your lane is, just be that. Be your real true self.
L’O: Is your upcoming album going to be even more ferocious than “Hiss”?
MTS: I don’t even know how to describe it, honestly. “Hiss” was me just getting the things that I had to say off my chest. I’m really not focused on the negativity on my album. I have a lot of different songs on the album because my emotion doesn’t stop at anger. My emotion doesn’t stop at sadness because I did grow and I did start feeling more things. I started feeling really happy. So you have songs on the album that are about the positive times that I’m starting to have. You get a little bit of everything. You get all the emotions in there.
L’O: Is there still a snake motif throughout the album?
MTS: We don’t just stop at the snake. This is just what everybody sees right now. Renewal, rebirth: that is the whole concept of this [album]. We started with the snake because, first of all, I love snakes, but I feel like snakes are so misunderstood, especially in western culture. Snakes represent rebirth, spirituality. I’m not really a person that’s like, Oh my God, sunshine and just super bubbly, happy. I like darker things. I like things that are a little scary. I like things that are unique. I picked the snake because… it’s kind of like an antihero.
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“I don’t want to say I’m tapping into other genres. I’m just tapping into other sounds.”
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“If I’m going to be here for the cheers, I got to be here for the boos. ”
L’O: Do you see yourself playing with different genres with this album? Obviously we saw Beyoncé do country. Is there a different sound that you’re trying to bring in this rebirth of Meg?
MTS: This is music I would like if I wasn’t Megan Thee Stallion. I don’t want to say I’m tapping into other genres. I’m just tapping into other sounds. But it’s still very much Megan Thee Stallion. It won’t feel like I went so left. It’ll feel true to me. You’ll almost be like, I wouldn’t have thought she would’ve rapped over that, but this sounds great.
L’O: I read that you were listening to Paramore, so I was like, Is she going to rock out with us for a second?
MTS: I don’t think people realize I’m a soft rock girl. I will listen to all kinds of music. I like a little bit of everything, so I tried to put things that were authentic to me on my album.
L’O: What is going to make this Hot Girl Summer different from other Hot Girl Summers?
MTS: Well, this is the first time that we’ve got to have a Megan Thee Stallion tour. So that’s what’s going to be different about this Hot Girl Summer altogether. You have never been able to come party with Megan Thee Stallion on a tour during Hot Girl Summer. What? Now all the hot girls have a place to congregate and fellowship, and this is what we are about to do.
L’O: Your fitness journey has also equally been super-exciting to watch.
MTS: When I first started doing therapy, my therapist did advise me to channel the energy somewhere in exercise. It started off as a distraction. I wanted to escape the things that were happening to me in my regular life. So I started working out a lot because it took my mind off of a different kind of pain, and now we’re putting it into the pain of my thighs. It started off as a way to cope with everything. And then as I kept going, I started to see results; I started to feel better and I just kept it going because when I go and put my mind on something else, especially working out, I’m not worried about anything else but this.
L’O: It is a great way to zone out. Earlier in the conversation you said you really know how to take care of yourself now.
MTS: I don’t have it down pat. I’m not saying, Oh my gosh, I’m in just the perfect place. Everything is great. I do still have my days where I’m like, Man, I wonder why I feel like this? But at least now I have the resources to change the thought process. So I feel like I’m definitely on my way to a better place, and I know I’m not in a place I was in before.
HAIR: Kellon Deryck MASTERMIND MGMT
MAKEUP: Lauren Child
CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Mariana Suplicy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Danielle Ellsworth
SET DESIGN: Danielle Selig
PHOTO ASSISTANTS: Miller Lyle and Sam Dole
STYLING ASSISTANTS: Isiah Ahmad, Juan Zenon, and Natalia Barzilai
Special thanks to Don Julio Tequila
by Marjon Carlos
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SWOW SWAG
Megan Thee Stallion Official Merch Hot Girl Summer Tour Tote Bag
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