On June 12, 2010, post the release of his debut full-length label-backed album Thank Me Later, Drake dropped the first loosie of his series of songs that include a time and location in the title with “9 AM in Dallas.” The track held a plethora of hard-hitting bars of self-reflection and depth, eventually resulting in his questioning cry, “Is this what y’all want?” The track was a clear reaction to mixed reviews from the now hip-hop legend’s first highly anticipated and scrutinized project. When I heard and saw Megan Thee Stallion’s video for her just-released “Southside Forever Freestyle,” it gave me a similar feeling. Then towards the end of the track, when Meg proclaims, “Young Tina Snow still goin hard on a ho,” it confirmed my comparison.
Since the release of her own self-labeled debut album Good News, Meg, like Drizzy, has received varied feedback. The main critiques of the album have been for her efforts to expand her range of styles in her sound. Many have thought and said that those songs have felt inorganic or even forced. By garnering success in such a specific pocket, Meg has landed herself in a place familiar to many rising artists during attempts at growth. Some early fans have trouble hearing Meg dive into unfamiliar territory sonically. They have fallen in love with the hard-hitting H-Town braggadocious and empowering bars over slapping beats that garnered her acclaim. Regardless of the criticisms being fair or biased, there has been a clamoring on social media for Meg to return to her alias Tina Snow. Her rapping under this personality resulted in the first track that elevated her reach in “Big Ole Freak.” So Meg did what the 6 God did and gave the people a taste of what they craved. A reminder that some of her day ones will hopefully hold to.
On “Southside Forever Freestyle,” Meg goes full bottom of the map banger in your face mode, as her first lines are, “Please bitch you ain’t tryna cap on me / Like I ain’t the hottest out naturally.” In the visual, she is accompanied by her two main beatmakers who produced the track and collaborated with Meg on the sounds of her come-up, Juicy J and Lil Ju. She is laced in a Houston Rockets bikini and snapback, baggy jeans, and enough jewelry to make a broke hoe bitter. It’s safe to say this is something that anyone who became a Meg fan for her g’d up swagger and delivery will eat up like Texas beef ribs.
The topics Meg expertly raps through range from being the hardest out to the men who can’t resist her, to her disregard of baseless internet criticism, to her confidence in her family’s pride in her. The whole track feels tactical. Meg accomplishes receiving gratitude for the offering people desired while also creating anticipation for new iterations of tones like this one in the future. Meg, like Drake, understands she must progress to achieve true longevity. However, she also knows that doing so takes trial and error through experimentation, and she must always feed her core fans who propelled her. Her awareness is thorough in this new video down to her chain, which spells out the diamond-studded words “Still Hot Girl.”
The coolest part about this whole exchange is how Meg can best gain back approval from those who she momentarily lost it from. She can diss them. In some of the closing bars, we hear Meg triumphantly take hold of this blessing in disguise as she raps, “Н*еѕ lоvе tо ѕnеаk dіѕѕ, уеаh, b**сh, І ѕееn іt / Yоu аіn’t ѕау іt tо mе whеn уоu ѕее mе.” In this newly discovered ideal world, Meg gets to spit raps of disrespect that are cleverly built to last.