Amidst the wreckage of yet another public display of mishandling and misconduct, via powers of authority through record labels, spawns the latest release from one of the hottest upcoming rappers. Almost a year after her previous release and breakthrough into the mainstream with mixtape Fever, Houston native Meg Thee Stallion releases her now debut album Suga. Though her rap career predates her splash on mainstream music and media from last year, the proper arrival of Meg Thee Stallion is one that has ultimately influenced and altered the dynamics of women in hip hop. Though short, her stay thus far has felt long overdue with a complete and utter takeover, and with the release of her latest project, no doubt will the previously existing buzz and demand for her grow. Whilst Meg isn’t the biggest female name within the hip hop genre, last year truly felt like hers to claim. Storming into the landscape of hip hop with unmatched ferocity and a simply unmissable presence, Meg’s latest release sets out to continue her streak, and put her right back in her comfortable ‘hot girl’ position.
The sheer ferocity and punchiness of Meg’s artistic character being her greatest asset is by no means unknown to Meg herself. Utilizing her evident streak of talent and her relentless, in your face type of rap, wastes no time in settling into her comfort zone. The introductory track on the album “Ain’t Equal” manages to embody what feels like the true Meg Thee Stallion musical tropes, all within its brief yet punchy two and a half minute run time. Built upon an instrumental foundation of a fat, menacing bassline, that’s lower embellishments serve as an equally as sinister and aggressive presence as Meg herself, the tracks ecstatic, yet aggressive tone is established even before the vocals enter the equation. Upon the arrival of Meg, the track only emphasizes it’s energetic ferocity. With fast flows and aggressive tone, Meg savages her way through the track detailing her stance and come up and how potential threats are futile attempts to belittle both her success and character. Regardless of the lyrical content, this track feels very much like that, a warning from Meg herself that any attempt to belittle her stature is sure to be demolished.
The track “Savage” retains all of Meg’s powerful and dominant prowess, yet is more restrained and serves as evidence of growth between releases. More than anything, this track highlights Meg’s improvement in terms of song structure. Throughout her last album, a handful of tracks had the inherent issue of sounding like a constantly flowing verse with no dictation. On this track, the hook consists of these smokey, filthy remarks in which Meg exclaims her prowess and exudes confidence. This confidence extends to the verses of the track in which not only do the lyrics express Meg’s drive, but her vocal performance is similarly drenched. Her bouncy, yey filthy delivery packs all the punch of a typical Meg performance, yet is elevated by the infectious keys that give the production the necessary aggressive edge.
Meg continues to demonstrate as to why she is so deserving of the spotlight she so naturally holds, as she extends her talents for her now synonymous unyielding presence. The track “Captain Hook” is perhaps her most cutthroat and ferocious performance on the album. Meg provides a stand out performance, demonstrating exactly why she is such a cherished and championed artist, as her bombastic flows make the track burst with colour. Every bit of praise that is lent to Meg’s vocal performance must be equally credited to the production on the track. The unorthodox instrumental features the clanging of metals and the unsheathing of swords to help establish the narrative of the track. A trait very unrepresented within music, Meg links the title to the track via the unique inclusion and sporadic insertion of metal work to add depth to the instrumental. Another track on the album that features equal parts brilliance from unique production and Meg’s performance is “Rich.” Though not quite as unique, or directly linked to the title, the instrumental on the track is a constantly shifting, energetic basis for any truly great trap song. The complex and multi-layered rhythms in combination with the distorted keys give the track it’s dark and sinister undertones. Meg enters the track in typical Meg fashion with her bombastic and energetic self as she perfectly rides the instrumental whilst being an equally formidable presence.
Despite the moments of brilliance, the album isn’t without its shortcomings. An issue the project faces is the lack of cohesion when featured artists enter the equation. The track “Hit My Phone,” featuring Kehlani is the first of these endeavours. By no means is Kehlani’s presence one of immediate issues, however, she does manage to take up what feels like a majority of the tracks run time. Given the album’s greatest assets stem from when Meg is in full control and giving it her all, the inclusion of an outsider’s vocals instantly takes the edge and consistency out of the listening experience. Specifically to the nature of the track, however, Kehlani’s vocal efforts are serviceable, far from her best-featured efforts but pleasant enough not to upstage the entire track on its own. And that’s the issue, on a song in which the main artist is such a demanding performer, fine simply doesn’t work as Kehlani feels awfully out of place and unnecessary. An even greater offender of the exposure of lack of collaborative chemistry is the track ‘Stop Playing’ with Gunna. In an attempt to make Gunna feel at home on the song, Meg sacrifices her signature sound and style, bringing the album to a slamming halt. The out of character performance, which sees Meg taking the approach of utilising vocal assistance and synthesisers to enhance her singing voice to match that of Gunna’s removes all her personality and firey characteristics. Gunna himself on the track sounds awfully uninspired, completely ringing in his performance for obvious brand exposure. On paper the combination of Meg Thee Stallion simply doesn’t work, now put into practice, there is tangible evidence as to exactly why the two should never have crossed paths.
Another issue exposed on the album is the lack of ability to thrive through variation. On the track “Crying In The Car” Meg swaps her signature bars on bars style for an autotuned, sun performance. The result, a bad semblance of a bad Kodie Shane impression. This sound fairs so poorly amongst the fiery and punchy tracks that make up the majority of the album. Beyond that, this truly doesn’t feel like Meg. Phony, poorly mixed, lacking any true sense of melodic contour or vocal manipulation, the track put Meg in a position out of her comfort zone and seemingly in a sound she struggles to make work. This is stripped back, forgettable, and worst of all, an absolutely dull track in comparison to what else is on offer, and in the grand scheme of things, a step backwards in Megs evolution as an artist. The conclusive track on the album “What I Need” suffers from much the same, only this time, to a lesser extent. Whilst she continues with her sung approach, she at least sounds like a natural presence rather than an artificial voice, stripped of all character. This sound again only manages to detract from the greater purpose of the album. What started as a showcase of pure skill has instead ended with Meg in way over her head, trying to expand and vary her sound, but instead threatening her own progression. The album ending on these two tracks not only means the body of work as a whole completely flops on its last legs, exposing listeners to boring, uninspired and mid-tempo sludge, but it additionally reflects poorly on Megs ability to experiment, and hints to the failure of perhaps future ventures.
Meg Thee Stallions transition into the world or proper album releases with ‘Suga’ is one that boasts both her best and worst qualities as an artist. When Meg is in her element, the album truly stands out as a neat, yet punchy showcasing of an artist at their peak. Yet at times in which her synonymous sound is compromised, the album fails by all accounts to establish much of anything. This 9 song album that spans a mere 24 minutes is overall not enough material to truly grasp onto, nor is it a sufficient enough run time for Meg to truly transition and assume the position of raps one and only hottest new come up. An inconsistent mix bag of tracks, that feels tarnished and rushed by the potential threats and constraints of label drama, makes Meg Thee Stallions’ newest venture into mainstream stardom an initially pleasant listen, yet one that fails to escape a vast range of shortcomings that highlights her room for improvement.
Suga – Meg Thee Stallion – 6/10
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