Megan Thee Stallion Brought the Heat to Dallas (Whether We Needed It or Not)

At the top of the second act of Megan Thee Stallion’s sold-out show at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday, her backup dancers walked on stage in hooded cloaks, took a knee and then lifted their arms and bowed toward the back of the stage. At that moment, an egg rose up from the stage and like "The Birth of Venus," Megan emerged from it and butterfly wings appeared on the LED screen behind her.

Was this a little self-indulgent? Perhaps. But you can’t say she hasn’t earned it.

A lot has happened to the Houston-based rapper since her last Dallas show at the Bomb Factory in 2019, and we’re not just talking about the fact that she’s earned enough new fans to fill arenas. She’s released two EPs and two albums (with a third album, MEGAN, dropping this week), has collaborated on chart-topping hits with artists such as Beyonce and Cardi B, won three Grammys and graduated from Texas Southern University with a degree in health administration.
Unfortunately, these past few years were marked with darker moments as well. She was shot by rapper Tory Lanez in 2020 and, despite his being found guilty, Megan dealt with friends and colleagues discrediting and turning their backs on her in the years that followed. She also faced extensive legal trouble with her former label, accusing it of fraud, breach of contract and negligent representation, which culminated in her striking out as an independent artist last year.

Setbacks like these would’ve killed anyone else’s career. Not Megan Thee Stallion, though.

In February, she signed a groundbreaking distribution agreement with Warner Music Group that allows her to retain ownership of her masters and publishing rights, and now her long-awaited Hot Girl Summer Tour is selling out arenas across the country.

All of that said, it makes sense that Meg built her stage in the shape of a circle. It’s time for her to take her victory lap.

The Hot Girl Summer Tour’s Dallas stop turned up the heat right off the bat. Megan Thee Stallion opened with this year’s chart-topping single, “HISS,” which contains a strong contender for the bar calling out sexual predators in the rap industry this year: “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan / These hoes mad at Megan’s Law.” (“Megan’s Law” walked so Kendrick Lamar’s “A-minorrrrr” could run, by the way.)

“HISS,” which spits venom at everyone who tried to knock her down in the aftermath of the Tory Lanez shooting, was performed alongside pyrotechnics and flame animations flickering up and down the LED screens. It’s the perfect song to start with. Standing tall as an independent artist in front of 20,000 fans is an undeniable victory, but she’s still earned the right to kick the haters while they’re down.
After blasting through “HISS” and “Ungrateful,” Meg lightened the tone a bit with “Thot Shit,” her 2021 single mocking the backlash to her and Cardi B’s smash hit “WAP.”

“I walk around the house butt-naked, and I stop at every mirror / Just to stare at my own posterior,” she taunts her detractors, like Ben Shapiro of “Wet-Ass P-Word” fame.

There’s a lot that Megan’s fans love about her. She’s beautiful, smart, confident and good at what she does. But one of the best qualities of her work is her sense of humor. Her raunchy lyrics contain disarmingly funny references to some of her personal interests, such as anime (“I'ma make him eat me out while I'm watchin' anime / Pussy like a Wild Fox, lookin' for a Sasuke”) to niche fashion subcultures. (“Goth girl shit / I’m a real Hot Topic”).

If you’re looking to start with Megan Thee Stallion, here’s a hot tip: If you’re taking whatever she’s doing more seriously than she is, you’ve already lost.

About halfway through the show, the performance ground to a halt so that Meg could have some one-on-one time with her fans. The “hotties,” as she called them,” made signs, brought her flowers and gifts and even created fan art for her.
At one point, she mentioned that it was “hot as fuck in Texas.” A fan in the front row just so happened to have a fan she could borrow.

She spoke to a few girls in the crowd who happened to graduate from college the same year that she did and one fan whom she had seen at the barricade at multiple shows.

After maybe 10 minutes of this, it was time to get back to business. “We’ve gotta get back to some hot girl shit,” she said before launching into the final lap of the show.

The last act saw opening act GloRilla (who put on a headline-worthy performance in her own right) join Megan onstage for their new song, “Wanna Be.” Other special guests included members of the audience, who were brought onstage to twerk alongside her.

The Dallas stop of the Hot Girl Summer Tour was originally supposed to take place on June 11, but like many other shows this past spring it was rescheduled amid the Mavericks competing in the NBA playoffs. Fans were disappointed (especially those coming from out of town), but Meg brought a party to Dallas that was worth any wait, be it two weeks or five years.

We have a punishingly hot summer ahead of us here in Dallas, but the kind of heat Megan Thee Stallion brought is always welcome.