When Megan Thee Stallion called up The Breakfast Club last week to preview her new song “Hiss,” she knew it would throw the rap world into a tizzy. Still, Meg remained steadfast about defending herself from her haters on wax. “It’s basically telling you to back off,” she stated.
“I hear you, I see you, back up off me now.” When host Charlamagne Tha God asked Megan if she called out anyone by name on the song, she explained that she didn’t. “Whoever feel it feel it,” she replied.
However, to say her rap peers “felt” it is quite the understatement. For fans, a song like “Hiss” was long overdue as Meg has been fodder for gossip blogs for years.
However, misogynoir reared its ugly head after the track dropped, most disgustingly from Nicki Minaj, who believes one of the bars in “Hiss” is a jab at her husband Kenneth Petty (“These h*es don’t be mad at Megan, these h*es mad at Megan’s Law /I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start”).
“Megan’s Law” is about information pertaining to registered sex offenders like Petty. Nicki has been accused of shading Meg in the past on songs like “Ruby Red Da Sleaze” (“Seven-hundred on them horses when we fixin’ to leave/But I don’t f**k with horses since Christopher Reeves”).
However, the perceived slight against her husband led Nicki to go on an unhinged tirade and release the song “Bigfoot,” likening a tall Black woman to a large and terrifying ape-like creature. On the track, not only does she attempt to slut-shame Meg but she also mocks her being shot by Tory Lanez (a jury found Lanez guilty of the crime and sentenced him to 10 years in prison last year).
Nicki also referenced Megan’s deceased mother on “Bigfoot.” The “Anaconda” rapper has a history of disrespecting her rap peers (it wasn’t that long ago that she was beefing with Cardi B), but her attack on Meg is extra venomous and steeped in deeply racist and sexist tropes about the appearance of Black women.
For centuries, white folks have likened Black people to animals to justify discrimination, hypersexualization, fetishization and violence. From slavery to minstrel shows, dehumanization of Black folks is a white supremacist tool—one that Nicki has chosen to use in an effort to make herself superior to Meg.
Additionally, Megan has gone through hell since being assaulted by Lanez. Her former best friend, Kelsey Harris, made a diss track about her after the shooting and has aligned herself with Minaj during this feud. Black gossip blogs made jokes about Meg being shot and questioned the validity of the attack. Even a trashy movie was made about it.
Male rappers used the incident to call Meg trans and make the shooting a punchline. Even her ex-boyfriend Pardison Fontaine got into the studio to insult her for reasons no one will ever understand.
We already know how the world feels about and treats Black women — but it’s always sadder when that hate and vitriol comes from your own people.