After the success of 2018’s EP, Tina Snow, plus trademarking the movement of 2019’s “Hot Girl Summer,” Megan Thee Stallion isn’t slowing down. In fact, she seems to be taking a page from fellow rapper and collaborator Nicki Minaj’s long-standing playbook (sorry Cardi B) of keeping a steady stream of singles on everyone’s radar (even when the latter claims she’s going to retire). Suga is part of that, with “B.I.T.C.H.” being the first single to lead the EP, in addition to being an overall thesis statement for how Megan Thee Stallion lives her life.
That doesn’t mean she doesn’t also address serious issues apart from being an unapologetic puta. And from the aggravated opening beats of “Ain’t Equal” (produced by Helluva Beats, as declared during the intro), Megan reminds her detractors, “I lost my mommy and my granny in the same month,” in addition to hitting out at those who have declared her a flash in the pan as a result of their jealousies over her “sudden” ascent (though, as anyone who monitors fame knows, anything that’s seemingly “overnight” has been a long time coming). In many respects, the track mirrors Offset and Cardi B’s 2019 single, “Clout.” In fact, Megan Thee Stallion even makes mention of that very phenomenon via the lyric, “They be talking, yeah, I see it, all that clout, I don’t need it/Hoes showing fake love when they really hate to see it/Niggas tryna get some fame off my name, that’s a shame/When I started making money, that’s when everybody changed.” And yet, like Jennifer Lopez before her, Megan claims she has not, concluding the track with the affirmation, “Real Hot Girl shit/Still the same bitch.”
That is to say, “Savage.” For no matter how much (or how little) time goes by, Megan still has the right to say: “Let’s play a game, Simon says I’m still that bitch.” The one unashamed to have a sexual appetite, a curvaceous figure and an appetite for spending money (Ariana Grande ain’t the only one with the “Monopoly”). Unhemmed in by the somehow persistent black female stereotypes of either being a Sapphire or a Jezebel. Who says Megan Thee Stallion is either? Or both? Or whoever the fuck she wants to be? More likely still, just a multi-layered woman who has every reason to enjoy sex and speak on that enthusiasm candidly. This much is elaborated upon on “Captain Hook,” which seems to officially establish a DJ Khaled pattern of announcing the same thing in every song–in Megan’s case, “Real Hot Girl shit.” It also continues her producer’s tendency to make his own overt introductions–this time LilJuMadeDaBeat, and he wants to make sure you know that by saying, “And if the beat live, you know Lil Ju made it.” Indeed he did. But it’s Megan Thee Stallion who made it her own with the type of graphic lyrics that might even make Minaj blush as she spits, “I like to drink and I like to have sex I fuck the niggas that’s cutting the checks/Dance on the dick, now, you been served I like a dick with a little bit of curve/Hit this pussy with an uppercut/Call that nigga Captain Hook.”
While some might think such “lusty” sentiments are too “progressive” for a woman, such ilk can take comfort in the throwback rhythm of “Hit My Phone” featuring Kehlani, who only seems to like collaborating on songs about phone interactions (hear: Cardi B’s “Ring”). And, unlike the forcedness of a “retro 90s hip hop” feel in the spirit of Bruno Mars and Cardi B on “Finesse,” “Hit My Phone” is completely authentic in its Salt-N-Pepa meets early 90s Queen Latifah flavor. A vibe that intensifies on the anthemic “B.I.T.C.H.,” which serves as something of a “U.N.I.T.Y.” for a new generation of women, black or otherwise, as Megan Thee Stallion riffs on the 2Pac song, “Rather Be Ya N.I.G.G.A.” (kind of how Minaj did the same with Notorious B.I.G’s “Just Playing (Dreams)” on Queen’s “Barbie Dreamz”). As such, Megan proclaims, “I’d rather be a B.I.T.C.H. (I’d rather keep it real with ya)/’Cause that’s what you gon’ call me when I’m trippin’ anyway/You know you can’t control me, baby, you need a real one in your life.” And there ain’t none much realer than she these days (particularly with both Nicki and Cardi out of commission with their own respective dramas, the former with her husband getting arrested for not registering as a sex offender and the latter continuously intertwined with the legal proceedings involving certain friends masterminding Bloods activity).
Yet just because one is real doesn’t mean she can’t be “Rich,” as Megan Thee Stallion emphasizes on the track of the same name. And with that wealth comes, obviously, power. Whether she chooses to use it for frivolous fun (“I get real money, big rolls, no tummy/Buy it off the mannequin/I go real, dummy”) or simply bragging rights (“I’m a rich bitch with some rich friends…/I’m a boss bitch, I don’t need help/I’ma tell him to buy it, but I can get it myself/Rich lil’ bitch, don’t be speaking if you broke”) is, of course, entirely at her own whim. That’s just one of the many fun parts of having money: being as arbitrary and unpredictable as you want to be.
Regardless, sometimes even the richest of them need to “Stop Playing.” Or, in this case, just want others to stop playing with them. That much is clear on this song featuring Gunna, with Megan Thee Stallion hauntingly opening the general warning via an a capella mantra: “Please stop playin’ with me, bitch.” A simple request indeed–yet somehow so difficult for most people to abide.
The penultimate hymn in the sassy prayer book that is Suga is “Crying in the Car,” in which Megan Thee Stallion alludes to her early struggles while trying to grab hold of the spotlight. Reminiscing like she’s still in that same car crying over her strife, she sings, with an occasional choir backing, “Please don’t give up on me, Lord, Lord/Promise to keep goin’ hard, hard/All of them nights that I cried in the car/All them tears turned into ice on my arms.” That ice being, naturally, a lot of expensive jewelry. Which is precisely, on a side note, why she was the perfect person to record a single called “Diamonds” for the Birds of Prey Soundtrack.
Pulling out all the stops to emphasize her clout in the rap game, Megan Thee Stallion bookends Suga with the Timbaland (and J Tabb)-produced “What I Need,” a showcase for her singing and rap vocals. Both talents intermix seamlessly together as Megan warns the object of her ephemeral affection that she might be a loose cannon now and again, but it doesn’t mean he has the right to act a fuckboy as she taunts, “I’ll cut you off and get mad when you leave/Told you I ain’t mean it, but you still mad at me/Blowin’ up ya phone ’cause you know what I need/You know what I need.” Just as Megan Thee Stallion knows precisely what we need. An answer to the void of late in female rap. So pour the Suga on generously.
