Album review: Megan Thee Stallion, Fever

Megan Thee Stallion. Photo / Getty Images

People always slam rap music for its misogynistic nature, but the thing is, for many of us, rap was the first arena we ever encountered in which women objectified men - not the other way around.

It's an arena where women took control of their bodies, their pleasure and their finances.

It was my first introduction to sex positivity before it was even a "movement", let alone a hashtag. It was where women didn't have to have high voices and pretty melodies, mind their Ps and Qs or worry about their "femininity".

Megan Thee Stallion encapsulates all of that on Fever. With a battle-rap style and an emphasis more on bars than production, Megan goes harder than most of rap's leading ladies, talking a big game about sex, money and the hustle - at one point even blatantly throwing out the call and response: "When I say weak-a**, you say b***h".

Megan's technical structure and staccato delivery are strong as hell but, lyrically, there's not much more here than a whole lot of stunting. Then again, that's the point.

Megan told The Rolling Stone: "You let the boys come up in here and talk about how they gon' run a train on all our friends . . . and they want to shoot everything up, and they want to do drugs. Well, we should be able to go equally as hard."

On Pimpin', Best You Ever had, Sex Talk and Simon Says - and almost every song on Fever - she raps in detail about sex, often dishing out step-by-step instructions on how to please her.

The problem is that only gets you so far, and Megan's Fever starts to burn out well before we reach the end of the 14-track album as beats - and certainly lyrics - start to blend and lose impact.

She saves herself with the injection of pure bangers like Dance and a welcome change of pace on Big Drank, but by the time you get to them it's hard to deny that until she's capable of sharing more lyrically, she could've done with sharing less, track-wise.

Megan Thee Stallion, Fever

Artist: Megan Thee Stallion
Album: Fever
Label: 300 Entertainment
Verdict: Strong and sexy as hell, but missing the heart to see it through