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Megan Thee Stallion: Live At NPR's Tiny Desk Fest

Megan Thee Stallion performs at NPR's Tiny Desk Fest on October 28, 2019.
Laura Beltrán Villamizar
/
NPR
Megan Thee Stallion performs at NPR's Tiny Desk Fest on October 28, 2019.

It's crazy what can change in a year. This time last fall, Megan Thee Stallion was rapping her heart out at local shows, balancing classes at Texas Southern University and occasionally dropping a fire freestyle video shot in a suburban cul-de-sac driveway. Since then, the brilliant and bodacious Houston rapper has ascended to major festival stages, become one of the most sought-after features on other stars' songs and electrified late-night television.

Though she's dubbed herself a stallion because of her tall and voluptuous frame (Meg stands 5 feet 10 inches without heels,) the 24-year-old rapper has proven herself to be a workhorse when it comes to consistency. Her viral 2019 freestyles shot her exposure online through the roof and whichever alter ego she chooses in the moment — Tina Snow, Hot Girl Meg, Stalli — she's maintained the spotlight all year thanks to a steady stream of new music, an engaging personality and her own viral social media campaign, Hot Girl Summer.

Megan's lyrical content lies in subverting established sexual dynamics and no matter the level of raunch she deploys, empowering women remains Meg's manifesto. Co-signs from all across hip-hop, from Q-Tip to Nicki Minaj to Chance the Rapper, have only bolstered her appeal and validated her bars in the eyes of the genre's cultural gatekeepers.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.