Exploring Megan Thee Stallion's Musical Evolution

Music is an art meant to be enjoyed and appreciated. However, in some cases, it can be competitive, as is the case with hip-hop. Hip-hop has been built on the back of competition among artists. Whether it’s the back and forth of a beef or something well organized like a rap battle event. Either way, competition always lingers in the hip-hop world.

For Megan The Stallion, she understands and appreciates the need for competition in music. However, she has a different take compared to other artists. While she is competitive, she competes with herself.

Speaking with Big Boy in 2020, Meg explained that she is always striving to get better. "I'm always trying to figure out, 'How can I be better than Hot Girl Meg? How can I be better than Tina Snow? How can I be better than Megan Thee Stallion?” she posed.

She concludes, saying, "I'm trying to beat myself. Like, 'OK, that project was lit. Let's beat it. ’I'm always in competition with myself because that's how I feel like I'm going to grow. Iron sharpens iron. I feel like I'm the iron sharpening the iron." As you can appreciate, her philosophy for making music is centered on improving and moving forward. Naturally, we can expect that she has evolved her music. Let’s explore this evolution.

Inspired by her hip-hop artist mother, “Holly-Wood”, Megan began writing rhymes while still young. However, her mother insisted she wait to pursue a musical career as an artist after she reached 21 years old.

While at Prairie View A&M University, she started rapping in cyphers and uploading her freestyling videos. This helped her cultivate a fan base on the internet.

She would release mixtapes on SoundCloud including 2016’s “Like a Stallion,” “Rich Rachet” and 2017’s “Megan Mix.” While she did not garner much success from the three mixtapes, they incrementally got better. Importantly, they laid the groundwork for her first official EP, which was released in 2017.

“Make it Hot” was her first EP. The seven-track EP is considered by many to be an improvement to her previous mixtapes. Her personality, rhyming flow, and voice had come to the fore in the music, showcasing her potential. However, for an artist who depends on everything coming together, the production did let her down a bit.

In 2018, Meg signed her first music deal with 1501 Certified Entertainment founded by Carl Crawford. She released her first project under the label, “Tina Snow” in mid-2018. Named after her alter ego, the project was the first instance where everything came together on the production side. To many people, this was her breakout project.

The high quality of production allowed her strong personality and lyricism to shine through in a way we have come to know Meg can. There are plenty of bars to enjoy on this project.

She followed “Tina Show” with the “Fever” mixtape. She gained critical acclaim with this project. Paper named the project the best album in 2019. The mixtape explores her various alter egos, including her pimp persona, Tina Snow in “Running Up Freestyle” and embracing Hot Girl Meg on “Sex Talk.”

Her next project was the “Suga” EP. Her Suga alter ego allowed her to explore her new self. As ever, using her clear, precise, direct raps as her tools, she explores her life. For instance, in “Ain’t Equal” she explores how her life has changed through fame. While she changes the subject of focus on the “Suga” EP, she still retains the brashness we’ve grown fond of.

“Good News” was her debut album. It starts with clearing the air over her shooting in “Shots Fired,” which uses the same sample in Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya.” After that, she moves on to explore a wide variety of subjects in a poppier and upbeat tone over the rest of the album.

Her second “Traumazine” is a departure from her previous projects. While she had portrayed herself as the ultimate Hot Girl, always ready to turn up in her previous projects, this one takes a different direction. She chooses to shed her alter egos and craft a project that explores her trauma. The entire album feels like a diary, through which she reveals her secrets. Revealing a new side to the global hip-hop star.