Megan Thee Stallion Essentials

Megan Thee Stallion is a master of nasty. But behind the trash talk is a torchbearer for hardcore Southern rap, the kind of MC who can elevate nastiness to art. Her best tracks aren’t just exercises in rawness, they’re soundtracks for a version of fourth-wave feminism that wonders why women have to choose between being dirty and being smart. (It’s rhetorical: They shouldn’t, and they don’t.) Given a free minute, she can write an op-ed for the New York Times about the role of Black women in American electoral politics. But no matter how good her raps get, the paper still probably wouldn’t print half of them. She’s a whole person. Join her.