Hot Girl Summer isn’t here yet, but new music from Megan Thee Stallion is! Nearly a year after the Houston rapper graced us with her first full-length project “Fever,” Megan has blessed us yet again, this time, with her album “Suga.” While this album was, by and large, very different from her other works, “Suga” wasn’t any less sweet. 

Behind the scenes, the road to the release of “Suga” wasn’t all that sugary. Following a week of very public legal disputes with her record label, the album was finally released on March 6 after a court-issued restraining order allowed her to release the music that her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, was barring her from sharing. According to Megan, she signed the contract in 2018 when she was “young and naive,” and that the label “took complete advantage of her and fraudulently induced her to enter into the contract.” Megan is just another name on a long list of women from the likes of Taylor Swift to Ke$ha who have had to fight to gain control of what is theirs. If there is anyone more steeled for a fight, it’s Megan–if her firey music is anything to go by. 

Megan’s music is not for those with delicate sensibilities–I have yet to come across a song of hers that lacks the “explicit” warning. But while this album still touches on Megan’s staple topics of sex, money and substances, compared to her other works, this album felt more contemplative. Her flow was softer, and she straddled the line between singing and rapping more frequently than is characteristic of her. Several of the tracks touched on personal topics, and those that didn’t still had a more lethargic feel to them. Where most of the tracks on her other works were sharp and abrasive, this one was more mellow. But to be fair, a lot has changed between her other works and this one. Before, her music screamed, “This is who I am.” Almost a year, numerous awards and an XXL Freshman title later, her music says “You know who I am, now give me the respect I’ve earned,” and the music is just as good.

The themes in the album’s opening track “Ain’t Equal” trickle down into the rest of the album. In the song, Megan relays some of the struggles that have plagued her career like losing her mother and grandmother in the same month. Nevertheless, she has been successful, and that is why she believes she and her competitors “ain’t equal.” Megan can sing just as well as she can rap. She seemed comfortable doing both during her Tiny Desk Concert, so it was nice to see her bring those talents to her discography with this album. “Crying in the Car” features more singing than any of the other songs on the album, and while it isn’t my favorite, it was beautiful nonetheless.  “Captain Hook” was, by a stretch, the most impressive song on the album. Megan manages to fill the entire 2 minutes and 56 seconds with an endless stream of rhymes, analogies and double entendres. Given my fondness for compelling cadences and witty wordplay, the song was perfect. “Savage” has even recently become the song to a viral TikTok dance. 

My harshest criticisms for the album concern the collaborations. Her collaboration with DaBaby on her song “Cash Sh*t” from “Fever” was explosive; the two are one and the same when it comes to their unmatched rhythmic abilities and the song said as much. This being said, I was disappointed to find that, conversely, this album’s weak points were in its features. They just didn’t work. “Hit My Phone” featuring Kehlani and “Stop Playin” featuring Gunna were filler tracks at best and forgettable at worst. On this album, Megan was her best when she was by herself. 

For me, Megan brings it all. In an interlude on his song “BOP,” a song which, funny enough, mentions Megan, DaBaby says his song was for, “The sophisticated ratchet [girls]. The ones that go to work by day, then dance in the mirror by night,” and I feel like that is the kind of individual Megan makes all her music for. She is a student, a rapper, a sex symbol and a woman. She’s relatable yet unattainable–and even if you don’t want to be her, you can appreciate her. 

Megan has had a fantastic career thus far, but this album just proves the best is yet to come. I’m excited to see how much the rapper will do once she’s shaken herself from the chains of her label and achieves her full potential. No matter what happens, though, it’s clear to see that the head hot girl is here for the long haul.