Like women taking back the word “bitch” (“slut,” “whore,” “slore”—the gamut), Megan Thee Stallion has decided it’s time to take back the erstwhile derogatory term “thot” (after already doing the same with “ratchet” on “Savage”). Otherwise known as: the abbreviation for “that ho over there.” At the same time, its alternate meaning has a certain poetic balance within the context of Thee Stallion’s new video for the song, in which she takes on an old Republican white man who embodies just about every conservative “pundit” who has come after her over the past year (starting from around the time of “WAP”). The additional acronym option being “thirsty hoes out there” can also apply to the conservatives Megan Thee Stallion is fighting back against, calling them out for being far thirstier than she is as they try to position their spotlight-grabbing behind a mask of defending the moral high ground. But a woman who is proud of her body and not ashamed to use it for pleasure, whether for her own or for the visual benefit of another, is, as hip hop’s resident “thottie with a body” knows, nothing to apologize for. Enter “thot girl summer.”
With an undoubted sense of irony, she hired Aube Perrie to direct the video, lending an immediately “sophisticated” air because Americans are indoctrinated to believe everything the French do is just that. Thus, with the emblazoning of “Un Film de Aube Perrie” on an intro title card are the Republicans already knocked down to size for their ignorance at not speaking any French (barring Amy Coney Barrett). Having previously established a knack for visually colorful, surrealist narratives in videos for Angèle and Møme (though Megan was specifically drawn to Perrie by his direction of L’Impératrice’s “Peur des filles”), he takes his strengths to the next level for the very memorable coup de grâce of this particular video (reserved for the grand final scene).
As a senator bids adieu to some fellow douchebags in his office at the end of the day, his abrupt closure of the blinds prompts his Black female assistant to role her eyes as she continues to type at the 80s-esque computer. In fact, the “trapped in the past” quality of many of the aesthetics (technology especially) seems intended to mirror the conservative line of thinking. Getting right to the heart of the hypocrisy matter at hand, the senator is shown typing into the comments section of Thee Stallion’s “Body” video, “Stupid regressive whores should have their mouth washed out with holy water.”
This, of course, is an acknowledgement of Republican congressional candidate James P. Bradley, still attempting to oust Ted Lieu from the L.A. County district with a planned run in 2022, and the tweet he wrote about “WAP,” which was as follows: “Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure. Their new ‘song’ The #WAP (which i heard accidentally) made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model!” Yes, he called it “The WAP.”
His music video incarnation, upon entering a similar comment, congratulates himself, “Good job, senator” before starting to unzip his pants to masturbate to the very person he just maligned. Because this, too, is a nod to the ridiculousness of the real Bradley using the word “accidentally” to describe how he found the content. A cut to a family photo on his desk heightens the absurdity of this stereotype daring to cast aspersions when they so often engage in the very actions they deign to criticize.
The attempt to whip it out is interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing, which he reluctantly answers. Before he can say anything, a close-up on Thee Stallion’s mouth reminds, “Look motherfucker, the women that you accidentally tryin’ to step on are everybody that you depend on. They treat your diseases, they cook your meals, they haul your trash, they drive your ambulances, they guard you while you sleep. They control every part of your life.” She concludes, “Do not fuck with them,” as she hangs up the phone authoritatively, now finished with her tribute to Fight Club. Naturally, he just shrugs and resumes the wank he was planning.
On the way out of the building, descending the steps and reading his tangible newspaper (again, an emblem of being trapped in the past), a garbage truck appears out of nowhere to mow him down. It’s all very in the spirit of Mean Girls (and why shouldn’t it be, since Megan Thee Stallion just did an homage to it?) when a bus passes by as Regina George tells Cady Heron off and ends up getting slammed before she can have the chance to use her profanity. Setting the bar high within the first two minutes, Thee Stallion sustains the pace of the comedic timing as the senator, presently stuck to the windshield of the garbage truck Megan is driving, ends up at the grocery store to find he’s surrounded by the very thing he seeks out in private: ass. Whether shaking at him from behind the Tina O’s (Tina Snow being the persona resuscitated for this single) cereal or twerking atop the butcher’s counter, there’s no escaping the women Megan warned him about on the phone.
Following him like an STD in World War II-era Rome, they end up in the diner where he’s eating (filmed at Hollywood’s famed but defunct 101 Coffee Shop), with Megan voraciously snatching his burger out of his hand and devouring it in front of him with the ferocity of a lion. It’s as though she’s saying, “This is the ‘crass’ image of me you see, so I’m going to fucking well caricaturize it, you vagina of a man.”
Goading him with the chorus, “Hands on my knees, shakin’ ass, on my thot shit,” Megan Thee Stallion doesn’t leave him alone even when he thinks he can relax in the bathtub of some seedy motel (indicated by that style of key with an according booty-shaped keychain). It’s here she chooses to take A Nightmare on Elm Street into consideration as her iconically manicured hand rises out of the water to flip off the senator. Fearing for his life (or perhaps not wanting to show anyone that these women get him hard), he runs away. But, naturally, he can’t escape. And Megan wasn’t even the one who wanted to start all this, noting, “Look, I ain’t even finna argue with a bitch/One thing I know, two things for certain/None of these hoes sayin’ shit to my face/And none of these hoes finna see me at the bank/And I’ma keep talkin’ all the shit that I want/And I dare one of these hoes come tell me I can’t.” So yeah… regardless, she’s certainly going to be the one to finish it.
Which is why Megan and her friends give the senator a little operation to fix that problem with him running his mouth all the time like the rest of his fellow conservative hypocrites. The labia left in the wake of “conventional lips” is one of the most memorable revenge moments in music video history (right up there with Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”). And nothing about this entire endeavor will soon be forgotten. Least of all for the “good” senator in question. Or his ilk.
