Megan Thee Stallion
"Good News"
(330 Entertainment (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK) 1/2)
Good news abounds for Megan Thee Stallion, the Texas rapper who also answers to Hot Girl Meg and has recorded using the alter ego Tina Snow.
Beyond last week's four Grammy nominations for best new artist, record of the year, best rap song and best rap performance (the last three for "Savage" featuring Beyonce) — she has succeeded here at something that's often elusive: Living up to the outsized expectations she set for herself when she first emerged as a brazen, bountifully talented new voice in 2019.
Her first zeitgeist moment happened that year with "Hot Girl Summer." Since then, she's commanded attention with her lusty collaboration with Cardi B. on "WAP," spoke out against the police killing of Breonna Taylor on "Saturday Night Live" and wrote "Why I Speak Up For Black Women," an op-ed in The New York Times.
This July, she was allegedly shot in the foot by rapper Tory Lanez, who she ridicules on "Good News" opener "Shots Fired," which references the Notorious B.I.G.
Though last year's full-length "Fever," which was categorized as a mixtape, was a well thought out, full-length piece of work, "Good News" has been hyped as Meg's debut album. And other than a few missteps like the unsubtle "Intercourse," it is a breakthrough that refines her technique and displays mastery on the mic.
Her charisma and wit energize the self-confident burner "Savage Remix" featuring Beyonce, the gender-flipping "Girls In The Hood" and the irresistibly bumping "Body." In that track, Meg makes a "Tiger King" pun because her enemies are "scaredy cats" and suggests her male fans have only made it through quarantine by spending time alone with pictures of her. — Dan DeLuca
