Sweat was dripping off the walls inside Brixton Academy on Wednesday night. According to Megan Thee Stallion, it wasn’t due to the continued sweltering heatwave outside, but because the 5,000 fans inside the legendary old venue were on “some hot girl sh*t.”
Two weeks after the surprise release of new album Traumazine, and just days before she headlines the Reading & Leeds festivals, the Houston rapper brought a show that confirmed her star quality and begged for a bigger stage on which to carry out her vision.
Since her breakout year in 2020 – few artists on the planet had a better pandemic, if such a thing can be said – the rapper has fast become a cultural icon, and the packed crowd in south London treated her as such. Often you could barely hear her rap the likes of Freak Nasty and omnipresent Cardi B collaboration WAP over the crowd’s own word-perfect renditions.
Joined by a troupe of dancers and backed by an understated stage show, she sang songs of female empowerment and encouraged the same confidence and openness in the crowd. As well as a chaotic romp through highly sexualised hits, the show was also a safe space.
At multiple intervals throughout the gig, Megan insisted the parched crowd were provided with water, eventually throwing bottles out herself from a water cooler brought on stage (“Bringing my f**kin’ cooler on, that’s what I’m talking about!”). Earlier, she stopped the show to ensure a crowd member could be lifted across the barrier to safety.
Smashing through highlights from 2020 debut album Good News, breakout project Tina Snow and singles from Traumazine with intoxicating confidence and bravado, the show was playful, filthy and simply dripping in star quality.
She clearly inspires the same in her fans too, given the gusto with which they attacked their on-stage cameos when hand-picked from the crowd. There are two rules when joining her on stage, Megan said. Don’t be on your phone the whole time, and make sure to “f**k it up”.
While the first instruction was largely ignored, the second was carried out emphatically as a handful of “hotties” – her affectionate name for her fans – twerked and expressed themselves as she looked on admiringly.
As thunderous new single Her and the global Beyoncé-featuring hit Savage (Remix) closed things out in a shade over an hour, it seemed obvious that, this time next year, Megan will bring her show back to the UK to packed-out arenas with a more fully-realised and conceptual stage show to match.
When that happens, we will see her true potential to become a generational star on stage. Until then, the Brixton gig was simply a glimpse at the magic that’s sure to follow.
