Megan Thee Stallion Bares Her Pains and Gains

Do not let the title of Megan Thee Stallion’s sophomore album, Traumazine, fool you — she is stronger than ever, even as she processes her pain through vulnerability. Honesty is at the heart of working through any kind of trauma, and Megan has decided to let us into her process.

Meg comes out swinging with “NDA,” finding pockets within pockets of the beat — one of her greatest assets as a rapper. “I ain’t perfect, but anything I did to any of you n****s, y’all deserved it/ You see me in that mode, don’t disturb me when I’m workin’,” she declares. She’s focused over the entire 51 minutes of the project, zeroing in on the intensity that pulsed beneath the surface of her earlier mixtapes Tina Snow and Fever.

Traumazine (released Friday, August 12th) is absent of obvious club bangers, which will please fans who have been looking for more dimensions from the rapper. On “Gift & A Curse,” Meg slides into infectious repetition on the chorus, then delivers one of her best, most political lines: “My motherfuckin’ body, my choice (My choice)/ Ain’t no lil’ dick takin’ my voice.”

Lines similar to this one can come off as gimmicky from an artist; an obvious grab at topicality. But there is no better and more believable person to defend women’s choices than Megan Thee Stallion, whose very name is an ode to the power and beauty of a body that has been commodified, scrutinized, and even worshipped.