Megan Thee Stallion’s glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps must be sore. Or possibly just made out of rubber. Playing Friday at the first of a two-night run at United Center, the fitness-obsessed rapper put those muscle groups through an intense workout as part of her Hot Girl Summer Tour.
Blending the vibes of a designer fashion show, uninhibited exercise class and anything-goes girl’s weekend, the uneven 90-minute concert prized movement, liberation and flesh. An extended sequence during which Megan Thee Stallion hand-picked fans to twerk in front of the sold-out crowd to a partial cover of Bankroll Freddie’s “Pop It” put into perspective the priorities she placed on physicality, looseness and positive body image.
She led by example, habitually flexing her toned legs and highlighting her curves via suggestive poses, hip thrusts and low-to-the-ground stances. Megan Thee Stallion’s shape-hugging outfits — a mix of sheer bodysuits, strap-and-lace tops, bikini-style bottoms and stylish boots — and the video team’s close-up camera shots ensured her figure remained in clear view.
Her rap skills, authoritative and cohesive on many of her studio cuts, suffered though in the live environment. Megan Thee Stallion allowed pre-recorded backing tracks to handle the heavy lifting. She would begin to rap and suddenly pause, frequently amid the same verse, producing a flow that came across as choppy and interrupted. The approach caused strings of words to land as interjections instead of whole sentences. Coupled with the questionable decision to forgo any real instrumentalists, the erratic microphone control occasionally made it appear as if Megan Thee Stallion karaoked rather than performed her songs.
The sound system did her no favors. Dominated by rafters-vibrating bass drops and booming echoes, the rhythms and beats drowned out her vocals on a regular basis. The acoustic shortfalls further blurred the lines on transitions from one song to another. Slight changes to the 29-year-old’s deliveries, and different projections or color schemes involved with visual treatments, offered the surest clues when she moved onto the next track. She had a tendency to cut out entire verses and whittle select songs down to snippets.
(Representatives from the tour contacted the Tribune after this review was first published to say that technical difficulties contributed to unevenness in sound quality during the concert. The backing music was pre-recorded; Megan Thee Stallion’s vocal performance was live.)
The Houston native — born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete — has never headlined a tour before, despite her standing as a commercial force for the past five years. Her Hot Girl Summer trek, which launched last Tuesday, represents the last major hurdle for a rapper who has accomplished nearly every other significant mainstream feat since attracting attention in the late 2010s on social media for her freestyle posts.
Such successes extend to Megan Thee Stallion signing a content deal with Netflix, becoming a Revlon ambassador, serving as a judge for a voguing competition series and surfacing in films and television shows. Her musical achievements are legion, encompassing acclaimed mixtapes, No. 1 songs, Top 5 albums and collaborations with a litany of contemporary pop and hip-hop superstars — Beyonce, Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, Dua Lipa, Nicki Mianj and Ariana Grande included. In addition to four Grammy Awards, Megan Thee Stallion earned accolades from the likes of BET, Billboard, MTV, the NAACP and Variety. She seemingly is also widely known for being the victim of a high-profile shooting in July 2020. The harrowing incident, in which the rapper got shot in the feet by rapper Tory Lanez, turned Megan Thee Stallion into a target for internet trolls who mocked her, trivialized the violence and caused her additional trauma.
Tellingly, the rapper proved her most compelling when focused on haters, users and former associates. Drawing on a considerable battle-rap arsenal, she tore enemies down with deft wordplay, fierce attitude, savage boasts and rapid-fire pace. While a problematic feed muted the start of the concert-opening “Hiss,” Megan Thee Stallion adopted the guise of a coiled snake primed to strike even when her vocals remained inaudible. She brought similar swagger and pent-up vengeance to the creeping “What’s New,” stormy “Plan B” and trunk-rattling “Boa,” a smart dis track whose onomatopoeic refrain wagged akin to a teasing index finger in the face of unnamed adversaries.
Accompanied by a swarm of eight female dancers that followed her around and engaged in choreographed routines, Megan Thee Stallion devoted an equal amount of time to carnal pleasures. Parading, sashaying, stepping, prancing, bouncing, constantly twerking: She embraced independence and exhibited outsized inner and outer confidence, flipping the scripts on male-fantasy scenarios that treat women as subservient, and that dominated hip hop for decades.
The sexually explicit and humorously exaggerated narratives of the funky “Big Ole Freak,” uptempo “Freak Nasty,” hard-punching “Captain Hook” and shadowboxing “Sex Talk” found Megan Thee Stallion in command and satisfying her desires. She increased the steamy temperature on “Eat It” — imaginatively sent up with her crew using towels as props, along with on-screen graphics of lips and tongues — and “WAP,” catchy NSFW anthems centered on female anatomy and why it deserves to be celebrated.
Filtered through a lens some may consider vulgar and obscene, Megan Thee Stallion’s messages empowered and energized. She viewed money, property and luxury goods — customarily the purview of the opposite sex, especially in hip hop — with the same feminine-minded perspective as she did self-worth and identity. Her brief interactions with the audience — grabbing phones to take a selfie, expressing disbelief at receiving gifts, inviting “hottie” fans of different shapes and sizes up to dance — hinted at a mutual understanding that dissolved barriers that normally exist between celebrities and regular folks.
The rapper also stayed identifiable by not dwarfing herself with excessive spectacle. Anchored by a stage based around a ring rimmed by an outer walkway and framed by a few projection columns, the production skewed basic — particularly for an arena event helmed by a younger artist. Aside from some fireballs, a ceiling-descending lighting contraption and a confetti shower, Megan Thee Stallion relied on her bold charisma, body tissue-rippling maneuvers and pliable ensemble. And she knows the all-eyes-on-her magnetism that can stem from playfully sipping water through a straw.
Not enough, however, to fully compensate for her inconsistent raps and hit-and-miss cadence. Another signature attribute missing in action: Megan Thee Stallion’s insertions and asides, the “baow,” “mwah,” “hmmm” and “skrrt” language-as-sound effects that punctuate her lines and inject brash flavor. Perhaps they will emerge and her weaknesses dissipate as she logs more shows. For now, at least she’s not lacking self-assuredness or motivation.
“Lookin’ in the mirror like, ‘Damn, I don’t brag enough,’” she spat on “Thot (Expletive).” You go, girl. After all, hip hop never thrived on modesty.
Update: This story has been changed with a note about sound technical issues.
Setlist from the United Center in Chicago on May 17:
“Hiss”
“Ungrateful”
“Thot (Expletive)”
“Freak Nasty”
“Megan’s Piano”
“Gift & A Curse”
“Hot Girl”
“Kitty Kat”
“Cobra”
“Plan B”
“Cognac Queen”
“Big Ole Freak”
“Girls in the Hood”
“Boa”
“Sex Talk”
“Eat It”
“What’s New”
“Captain Hook”
“Southside Forever Freestyle”
“Pop It” (Bankroll Freddie cover)
“NDA”
“Wanna Be” (Glorilla cover)
“WAP” (Cardi B cover)
“Don’t Stop”
“Stalli Freestyle”
“Cash (Expletive)”
“Body”
“Savage”
