SOUNDTRACK: MEGAN THEE STALLION-Tiny Desk Concert #918/Tiny Desk Fest October 28, 2019 (December 2, 2019).
This Tiny Desk concert was part of Tiny Desk Fest, a four-night series of extended concerts performed in front of a live audience and streamed live on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Back in October, NPR allowed fans to come watch some Tiny Desk Concerts live. October 28th was rap night featuring Mega Thee Stallion.
I’ve heard a lot about Megan Thee Stallion and how she is raunchy and sexually explicit and how what she’s doing is revolutionary.
And I’m for her bragging the way men brag and showcasing women’s needs and desires. I think it’s fantastic.
Megan’s lyrical content lies in subverting established sexual dynamics, and no matter the level of raunch she deploys, empowering women remains the artist’s manifesto.
But wow, I found that by the middle of the first song I was overwhelmed by the language. Now, I’m not prudish by any means, and I listen to songs with all kinds of language. But the barrage of four-, five- and six- letter words was just nonstop. Honestly it just seemed to lose any impact and seemed pretty monotonous by the third or fourth song.
But clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about because
the brilliant and bodacious rapper has ascended to major festival stages, become one of the most sought-after features on other stars’ songs and electrified late-night television audiences.
I will say that she comes across as really fun and joyful while she’s bantering
Of course, most of her bantering was bragging about which of her songs have gone gold or platinum.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing to me is that this was her first performance with a backing band. Because I found her band was everything in this set. I couldn’t imagine seeing her yell
I keep it realer than real
Fuck all the critics and fuck how they feel
I’m getting money, it is what it is
They wanna know how I did what I did
Don’t worry ’bout why I do what I do (bitch)
‘Cause I ain’t worried bout you (bitch)
Nah, I don’t wanna be cool (bitch)
Still hanging with the same crew (ay)
without a live band to back her up. I mean, jeez, that would just be somebody standing on a corner ranting. I got tired of men singing things like that years ago, so even if it’s cool for her to turn it on its masculine head, it’s still just yelling and bragging.
Her band is Phony Ppl, who played a Tiny Desk Concert last March and who I liked quite a bit. The band is Elbee Thrie on vocals (and genral hype), Elijah Rawk on guitar, Maffyuu on drums, Aja Grant on keys, Bari Bass on bass. I’m unclear if Ebony Joi is with Ppl or Megan, but she sings some lovely backing vocals.
And I totally agree with this idea (although I won’t compare her without the band)
From “Hot Girl Summer” to the platinum-selling “Cash S***,” Hot Girl Meg’s raunchy hits took on new life thanks to a live backing band, Brooklyn’s Phony Ppl, who seamlessly blend jazz, R&B and hip-hop.
I liked the horror-movie sounding music of “Realer.” I was amused that she described “Big Ole Freak” as more chill but it’s still raunchy.
Elbee Thrie sings the chorus on “Hot Girl Summer” (and I can’t believe she doesn’t have him singing along all the time).
Midway through the spirited set, Megan and Phony Ppl surprised the audience by premiering an unreleased collaboration, a bouncy banger titled “F*****’ Around.” After the first verse/chorus, the adoring crowd was singing along as if they’d known the song for years.
Thrie sings the lyrics and it really doesn’t seem like Megan does all that much, so I’m nit sure how much of a collaboration it is. Although she likely wrote the lyrics, since she says “We don’t condone that shit, but sometimes….”
The final song is about how much money she’s got. There’s some cool guitar licks on it.
So, despite all the raves for Megan Thee Stallion, I won’t be buying any of her mixtapes. But then I am clearly not the target audience.
[READ: February 28, 2020] Fight Like a Girl Vol. 1
Never has my desire to like a story been so undermined by its execution.
This book was advertised in Princeless and, since it was also by Action Lab Comics and was clearly a feminist story, I was all over it.
But oh, the execution.
The book opens in a kind of black and white chamber. It looks like a courtroom with the characters are talking to the heroine.
The characters are: Tartarus, Chronos, Apollo, Loki, Mercury, Fortuna, Fulla. I can’t decide of this Pantheon of gods is meant to be multicultural or if it’s weird that the first four are Greek, Mercury and Fortuna are Roman, and Loki and Fulla are Norse,
And it’s in these pages that the typos begin. So many typos! Which is weird since I suspect the book is hand lettered.
There’s some missing periods, an errant comma and then this line “and more importantly has the chance to be the next, artisan. [sic].”
But back to the plot, the judges have decided that Amaroso’s wish is acceptable and she will return in five days to enter the wishing well.
Then we flashback. Amarosa is talking to her boyfriend Kaiden saying that her brother is dying. She has tried everything and her last resort is the wishing well. Kaiden is concerned about what will happen if she fails but he convinces himself and her that she won’t fail. She can’t.
Next, Amarosa is in the wishing well with nine trails to attempt.
But the real typo problems come with the fairy that is assisting her on her trials. From awkward phrasings like “your nine trials awaits [sic] your grand arrival” to “let me run you down with [sic] the rules.”
Typos aside, the rules are simple. Amarosa chooses a door and fights what is inside. If she defeats the creature, a new door appears and she moves on through the nine trials. If she loses. Well, you know.
The first location is a beach with a woman sunning herself. The woman tells Amarosa to run along. No one needs to die today. Amarosa gets indignant but the sunbather turns into a gigantic T Rex. She is a polysymbiote. It’s funny that this word is defined as “A being who’s [sic] form is that of their own choosing” instead of just calling the creature a shapeshifter.
When the fairy returns to help her with guidance (but nothing else) the typos continue. “they can’t sustain a their [sic] form if badly wounded or they are divided into more piece [sic] then [sic] the subject can withstand.”
So Amarosa gets a chainsaw (?) and starts fighting the shapeshifter. Midway through the fight she pauses to asses herself: “organs are little shackin’ up [sic] and out of place, but I’m okay.”
It’s a weird battle to be sure. In the end the T-Rex turns into a little girl who tells Amarosa she doesn’t have the heart to kill a person. But Amarosa knows she’s not a real person, and has no problem dispatching her. The dying girl creatures tells her to be true to herself and figure out who she really is (an odd thing to say to the person who just killed you).
And then on to trial number two
But first more flashback to Amaraosa and Kaiden arguing about whether she should do this. It’s weird that this flashback continues through each book with him bringing up more concerns. Like that if she loses any challenge she goes to hell. Or weirder still, him asking her is she would do this for him–seems like a selfish and unnecessary question to ask someone you care about.
The second challenge is in the wastelands of the future. She is given a jetpack and there is some good humor in the beginning. She says she thought there would be more zombies at the apocalypse. The announcer/fairy says “Zombies? don’t be ridiculous. The human race was enslaved by evil robots.”
The second challenge is a giant robot. The announcer says “I just can’t bare [sic] to see you keep getting hurt!”
The crazy thing is how quickly and relatively easily she dispatches the robot.
For round three she is told she doesn’t pick a door, the pantheon has chosen for her. She finds herself in space. She is to fight a humanoid star. The star gives her a hard time saying she’s not doing this for her brother, she’s doing it for herself–running away from her problems.
So the key to Amarosa’s struggle appears to be internal.
“For all her heart and dedication, she’s clearly blinded to whom she’s really fighting…. but how can I let her know at at [sic] a time like this.”
The fourth test is another giant creature. The monsters (or whatever) are so randomly chosen–nothing to do with mythology or the gods, so why are they the Pantheon? Is a giant robot any scarier or more difficult than a Giant T-Rex really?
This one is a kind of mountain (with a city on its back). When she gets on top she sees there are people living on the city. How can she save all of those people?
I enjoyed the idea of self-empowerment that he story projects. The second (and I assume final) book will apparently send her different challenges since she figured out the first batch pretty easily.
So I’m intrigued by this story and I’m very curious how it will get wrapped up. I just wish it was better done.
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