megan thee stallion and her revolutionary knees

As the Hot Girl Summer begins to lean into Fall, Megan Thee Stallion continues to blaze a trail of hot rhymes, hotter outfits, and the hottest growing fan base we have seen in some time. Many women MC’s have come and gone over time, but Megan seems to be exciting people with much more than her music or her persona. In an industry quick to pit women against one another, Megan is taking a bold stand for unity, while using her platform — and her knees — to take on issues in the community.

There is not a Twitter day that goes by that you will not see someone commenting about Megan Thee Stallion and those impressive knees. There is a running joke that former basketball player Derrick Rose wishes he had the set of knees that Megan uses on a nightly basis to balance her twerk to the beat, while rapping — and never once losing her breath or her audience. Of course, I write a lot of this in jest — although her balancing act on heels really is awe-inspiring — because, in all honesty, what makes Megan a force goes far beyond her bars and her body. 

Coining the term “Hot Girl Summer”, Megan has quickly become a figure of resistance against the patriarchal standards of what acceptable women should dress and act like. Her purpose for Hot Girl Summer was intended as a decentering of men with intentions towards her “hotties,” while empowering the ladies to not move, act, or be a certain way for the attention or appeasement of those men. Her rules are: “You just have to be the life of the party. You have to be kind, you have to be confident,” and “You have to support other women.” 

For Megan, being a Hot Girl was always more than showing off the body she has EVERY right to show off. This summer, after finding out about how pollution was affecting the oceans, she got her legion of hotties to meet her on the beach in hottest swimsuits to do a beach clean-up. She is always conscious of the world around her, also using her platform to promote education. Before become Thee Stallion, Megan Pete was “Thee Student,” attending the HBCU, Texas Southern. Although she took some time off for career, she is preparing to go back to finish her degree in Health Administration, where she is in her third year. 

Women musicians have always had to deal with the industry’s body politics differently than their male counterparts. Standing at 5’10”, Megan has been criticized by those wanting to floss their hooked-on-phonics skills for using the term “stallion” which refers to a male horse. However, rather than be bothered by the haters, Megan has continued to use it as fuel to empower others and take ownership of her use of “Stallion” in a “I said what I said”-type of way. On an IG live chat with Nicki Minaj, she recently talked about how you can’t let the opinions of others bother the work that you are doing, after making a statement about writing her rhymes.

She followed that with “Hot Girl Summer,” which features Minaj and has sent fans into a frenzy, bringing up the question of whether she had joined a side in the “beef” between Nicki and Cardi B. When asked about he said “beef,” Megan once again showed her true colors about uniting women, stating how she loves both artists because they are different and how she hopes to one day work with Cardi B as well, putting to rest any rumors. 

Megan’s rise in the industry has been a breath of fresh air from the social media stan wars we are used to. She has the ability to carry herself as the hottie she is, while also showcasing unity and pushing back against the norm of an industry and society that tells women you can’t be too sexy — although we know women rappers who aren’t are rarely championed. 

Megan isn’t just balancing the Stallion on her knees. Meg is ushering in a new era where women get to be women despite what the industry may say. Where she can twerk on a Monday, clean a beach on a Tuesday, go to class on a Wednesday, write a verse on a Thursday, and DRIVE THE BOAT from Friday to Sunday. I look forward to whatever else Megan brings with her Tina Snow 2 release (rumored for the Winter). In the meantime, I will keep replaying clips of Megan dipping it low on those knees carrying the weight of hot girl movement.