Megan Thee Stallion facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Megan Thee Stallion
Born	Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (1995-02-15) February 15, 1995 (age 30) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Other names	Tina Snow Meg Thee Stallion
Education	Texas Southern University (BS)
Occupation	Rapper singer songwriter actress
Years active	2016–present
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop trap
Labels	Warner 300 1501 Certified
Signature

Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (born February 15, 1995), known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion (pronounced "the", not "thee"), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Originally from Houston, Texas, she first garnered attention when videos of her freestyling became popular on social media platforms such as Instagram. She signed with 1501 Certified Entertainment in 2018.

Megan Thee Stallion earned two number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020 with her single "Savage Remix" (featuring Beyoncé) and her guest appearance on Cardi B's single "WAP". The former won two Grammy Awards—Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song—while the latter became her first number-one song in several international markets, including becoming the inaugural number-one on the Billboard Global 200. Her debut studio album, Good News (2020), was met with critical and commercial success—reaching number two on the Billboard 200. It spawned the single "Body", which made her the first female act to release three number-one songs on the Streaming Songs chart within a year. Her 2022 single "Sweetest Pie" (with Dua Lipa) was met with similar success and preceded the release of her second studio album Traumazine (2022), which peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. In 2024, her single "Hiss" from her third studio album Megan (2024) became her first solo song to top the Billboard Hot 100 and made her the first solo female rapper to debut atop the Billboard Global 200 chart.

Megan has received various accolades in her career, including six BET Awards, five BET Hip Hop Awards, four American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, a Billboard Women in Music Award, and three Grammy Awards. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, she became the second female rapper to win Best New Artist (after Lauryn Hill in 1999). In 2020, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most-influential people in the world on their annual list.

Early life and education

Megan Jovon Ruth Pete was born on February 15, 1995, in San Antonio, Texas, and her mother, Holly Thomas, immediately moved to Houston after her birth. Thomas rapped under the name "Holly-Wood" and would bring her daughter with her to recording sessions instead of putting her in daycare. Pete was raised in the South Park neighborhood of Houston before moving with her mother to Pearland at age 14, where she lived until she turned 18. Pete began writing raps at age 14. When she eventually showed Thomas her rapping skills at age 18, Thomas required that Pete wait until she was 21 to pursue rapping as a career. Pete attended Pearland High School and graduated in 2013. Her father died during her freshman year of high school.

In 2013, while Pete was a student at Prairie View A&M University, she began uploading videos of herself freestyling on social media. A clip of Pete battling against male opponents in a "cypher" went viral. The exposure helped Pete gain a larger digital presence and following on social media. She garnered fans by posting her freestyles on her Instagram while in college. She credits her hyperactive fan base for her early success. After taking time off from school, Pete resumed her studies at Texas Southern University. She graduated on December 11, 2021, with a Bachelor of Science in health administration.

She adopted the stage name "Megan Thee Stallion" because she was called a "stallion" in adolescence due to her height (178 cm (5 ft 10 in)) and "thick" body frame.

Career

2016–2017: Early beginnings

In April 2016, Megan Thee Stallion released her first single "Like a Stallion". This was followed by the small SoundCloud-exclusive mixtapes Rich Ratchet (2016), and Megan Mix (2017). In September 2017, Megan Thee Stallion made her professional solo debut with the commercially released EP Make It Hot. The EP's 2017 single "Last Week in HTx" became her most successful single during this time, amassing several million views on YouTube. In 2017, Megan Thee Stallion released the song "Stalli (Freestyle)", as a rework of late musician XXXTentacion's "Look at Me!".

Around this time, Megan Thee Stallion auditioned to be a cast member on Love & Hip Hop: Houston; however, the proposed spin-off of the Love & Hip Hop franchise was postponed indefinitely in June 2016.

2018–2019: Tina Snow and Fever

In early 2018, Megan Thee Stallion signed with 1501 Certified Entertainment, an independent label in Houston run by T. Farris and owned by former baseball player Carl Crawford. The first women rapper signed to the label, she then performed at SXSW in March 2018. In June 2018, Megan Thee Stallion released a 10-song extended play titled Tina Snow under the label. The EP was named after her alter ego, "Tina Snow", who she describes as "a more raw version" of herself. Tina Snow was mainly produced by 1501 in-house producer LilJuMadeDaBeat, and was positively received by critics. Nandi Howard of The Fader referred to her ability to rap with "electrifying pace and precision". In November 2018, Megan Thee Stallion announced that she had signed with 300 Entertainment, making her the first women rapper to be signed by the label. It was during this time that she was scheduled to support Australian rapper Iggy Azalea on her Bad Girls Tour; however, the tour was later cancelled.

On January 22, 2019, Megan Thee Stallion released "Big Ole Freak" as a single from her EP, Tina Snow, and also filmed a music video for the track. The single, "Is It Love This Time", is sampled throughout the single. On April 15, "Big Ole Freak" charted at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 giving Megan Thee Stallion her first chart entry, with it later peaking at number 65 on the Hot 100. Fever, her second mixtape, was released on May 17, 2019. The album received critical acclaim and landed on several year-end critics lists, with Paper calling it the best album of 2019. Taylor Crumpton of Pitchfork rated the album 8/10 and wrote in the review, "Megan's delivery of perfectly executed bars are comparable to successions from a fully automatic machine gun; a carefully studied aim of fiery stanzas that could only be carried by a rapper with extensive knowledge of the genre's early practices of battle rap." On May 21, 2019, she released the music video for the opening album track, "Realer", which is inspired by the blaxploitation film style. On June 20, 2019, she was announced to be one of eleven artists included in the 12th edition of XXL's "Freshman Class". Her freestyle in the cypher was praised by music critics. In July 2019, Chance The Rapper released his debut studio album, The Big Day, and Megan Thee Stallion was featured on the track, "Handsome". On August 2, 2019, A Black Lady Sketch Show premiered on HBO.

She featured on Quality Control compilation album, Quality Control: Control the Streets, Volume 2, on the track "Pastor", alongside Quavo and City Girls. In September 2019, Megan Thee Stallion signed a management deal with Roc Nation. In October 2019, she created and starred in a horror series, Hottieween, directed by Teyana Taylor. In that same month, she performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert during the Tiny Desk Fest. In November 2019, Time placed Megan Thee Stallion on their inaugural "Time 100 Next" list.

2020–2021: Career stardom, Suga and Good News

In January 2020, Megan Thee Stallion released the single "Diamonds" with singer Normani, for the soundtrack of the superhero film Birds of Prey released the same year. That same month, she announced her debut album Suga and released the lead single "B.I.T.C.H.". In February 2020, she featured on the single "Fkn Around" by Phony Ppl, and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing "B.I.T.C.H.". The next month, she announced that her debut album was delayed as a result of her attempting to renegotiate her contract with 1501 Certified. She started the hashtag "#FreeTheeStallion" to raise awareness of the issue, noting that "[she did not] understand some of the verbiage" when she signed the initial contract with 1501.

On March 6, 2020, she released the EP, Suga, against the wishes of 1501, after a judge granted a temporary restraining order against the label. That same month, the song "Savage" from the EP went viral on TikTok, when popular user Keara Wilson used it for a dance challenge video, which racked up 15.7 million views and 2.4 million likes as of March 20, 2020. A remix featuring Beyoncé was released on April 29, 2020. The song became Megan Thee Stallion's first top 10 entry in the United States shortly after the remix's release, eventually becoming her first chart topper in the country. "Savage" also helped boost Suga's sales, propelling it up to number 7 on the Billboard 200. Proceeds from the song went to Houston nonprofit Bread of Life which provides disaster relief for residents affected by COVID-19. Megan Thee Stallion was also judge on the HBO Max voguing competition show Legendary which debuted in May 2020. She released the song "Girls in the Hood" on June 26, 2020, before featuring on Cardi B's single "WAP" and appearing in its music video in August 2020. "WAP" became her second number-one single in the U.S., breaking the record for the most streams for a song in its first week of release in the U.S. (93 million).

Megan Thee Stallion became a Global Brand Ambassador for Revlon in August 2020. She received her first-ever Billboard Music Award nomination when she was nominated for Top Rap Female Artist in September 2020. A few days later, she was featured in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Her write-up for this listing was composed by American actress Taraji P. Henson. Megan Thee Stallion tied with Drake when she received eight nominations at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. She also tied with Justin Bieber as the most nominated musician at the 2020 People's Choice Awards, earning six nominations each. Megan Thee Stallion would also become the second most-nominated act at the 2020 American Music Awards. In October 2020, she released the single, "Don't Stop" featuring rapper Young Thug, and promoted it by performing it on the 46th season premiere of Saturday Night Live. She performed a "politically charged" version of "Savage" that evening, in which she addressed racism, the Attorney General of Kentucky Daniel Cameron, and sent a message about the importance of protecting black women and the Black Lives Matter movement. She continued working for this cause by writing an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Why I Speak Up for Black Women", which received acclaim. Megan Thee Stallion appeared in the 2020 comedy special Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine. She received four nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Record of the Year for "Savage (Remix)". She went on to win the former, which made her the first women hip hop artist to do so since Lauryn Hill in 1999, as well as Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance, both for "Savage (Remix)".

On November 13, 2020, Megan Thee Stallion announced the release of her debut studio album Good News, which was released on November 20, 2020. The release of the album also coincided with its fourth single "Body" as well as its music video. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and at number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with over 100,000 album-equivalent units sold. On January 14, 2021, Megan Thee Stallion was featured on the remix of Ariana Grande's single "34+35", the second single from her sixth studio album Positions alongside American singer and rapper Doja Cat. A music video for the remix was later released on February 12, 2021. Megan Thee Stallion won the most awards at the 2021 BET Awards ceremony with four. Boy band BTS released a remix of the single "Butter" featuring the rapper, which reached number three on the Billboard Global 200. She also led the nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Cardi B, with nine each; both rappers won the most awards during the ceremony with three for "WAP". Megan Thee Stallion was featured on DJ Snake's single "SG", along with Ozuna and Lisa of Blackpink, released in October.

On September 16, 2021, Post Malone announced the Posty Fest 2021 lineup, with Megan Thee Stallion as one of the performers at the festival based in Arlington, Texas, next October. Megan was honored as one of Glamour's Women of the Year in November. Megan won three awards at the 2021 American Music Awards, tying with Doja Cat and BTS for the most during the night.

Megan Thee Stallion graduated from Texas Southern University on December 11, 2021. Shortly after, Megan was honored with the 18th Congressional District of Texas Hero Award by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee for her philanthropy efforts in Houston. In the coming days after Megan's graduation, she signed an exclusive first-look deal with Netflix that will see her create and produce executive content, including television series and other projects.

Artistry

Influences

Megan Thee Stallion cites her mother as her first and biggest influence. Other inspirations she has mentioned are the Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim, Queen Latifah, Eve, Three 6 Mafia, Trina, Salt-N-Pepa, Missy Elliott,Foxy Brown and she credits Q-Tip as her mentor. She has said in interviews that when she was coming of age in the 2000s, she would listen to her favorite rap songs from acts like Three 6 Mafia, and ask herself, "How good would this sound if a girl did it?"

She has also been influenced by Beyoncé. In her Grammy Awards acceptance speech with Beyoncé for "Savage", she said: "Ever since I was little, I was like, 'you know what? One day, I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna be like the rap Beyoncé.' That was definitely my goal. [..] I love her work ethic, I love the way she is, I love the way she carries herself." In a Teen Vogue interview, she spoke about Nicki Minaj as another influence: "[she] was here before us, so this is who we had to look at, at this time. So, definitely she has been an inspiration to me."

Trademarks

Megan Thee Stallion (shown in 2019) doing her signature ad-lib

• Signature Ad Lib: Megan is known for her signature ad-lib, which involves sticking her tongue out, creating a "creaky", audible "agh" or "blah" sound.
• Twitter Emoji: In August 2019, Twitter created an official emoji for this tongue symbol, which could be spawned directly after the hashtag "#MeganTheeStallion". This symbol also inspired the cover art of her EP Suga which was revealed in March 2020.

Other ventures

On July 30, 2024, Megan Thee Stallion and fellow rapper Quavo opened up for Vice President Kamala Harris’s first presidential campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia. Megan performed numerous censored versions of her hits at the event, and garnered backlash from viewers who deemed it inappropriate.

Television and film

In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion appeared as a judge on the premiere season of HBO's ballroom and voguing competition series Legendary. She would continue appearing as a judge for the series' second season in 2021, before being replaced by Keke Palmer, in the third and final season, due to scheduling and contractual agreements. On December 16, 2021, she signed an exclusive first-look deal at Netflix, to create and executive produce new series and other projects.

On February 17, 2022, it was announced that Megan will co-star in A24's first movie musical titled Dicks: The Musical, described as "a spin on The Parent Trap". She co-stars alongside Nathan Lane, Bowen Yang, and Megan Mullally. She guest starred in the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as a fictionalized version of herself.

In January 2024, Megan Thee Stallion made a cameo appearance in the movie musical adaptation of Mean Girls; she also contributed to its soundtrack, writing the original song "Not My Fault" with Reneé Rapp. Megan has also been the host for the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 2024. On October 16, 2024, Amazon Prime Video released the trailer for Megan's upcoming documentary about a dark time in her life called Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words, which was released on October 31, 2024.

Philanthropy

She contributed $15,400 worth of Thanksgiving turkeys and helped hand them out to 1,050 households in need at the Houston Food Bank portwall pantry, in November 2019. In April 2020, she donated over $10,000 to bail relief effort for Houston protestors. The same month, Megan teamed up with Amazon Music to donate to a Nursing Facility in Houston. All the proceeds collected from her collaboration on Beyoncé's Savage (remix) went to Bread of Life, which helps local Houston communities with Covid-19 relief efforts. The song raised over $2.5 million.

In October 2020, she partnered with Amazon Music's rap rotation and launched the "Don't Stop" scholarship fund that awarded two women of color pursuing associate, bachelor or postgraduate degrees, $10,000 each. In February 2021, she launched "******* Helping Houston" with US House Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, the National Association of Christian Churches disaster services, Taraji P. Henson, 300 Entertainment, Maroon 5, Revlon, Mielle Organics, Fashion Nova, and Billie Eilish to help senior citizens and single moms recovering from the area's storm related devastation. In March 2021, she collaborated with Fashion Nova for the 'Women on Top" initiative, which would give away $1 million dollars to support female-owned businesses and organizations. The same month, along with Fashion Nova and journalist May Lee, they donated $50,000 after the Atlanta spa shootings to the legal non-profit, Advancing Justice Atlanta.

In June 2021, she offered a full tuition, four year scholarship to the Roc Nation school of music, sports & entertainment at Long Island University.

In October 2021, as part of her wide-ranging agreement with Popeyes, she made a six-figure donation to the charitable organization Houston Random Acts of Kindness.

BTS Army launched "Thee Army Fund" project, which raised over $120,000 to donate to three different organizations: (Woman for Afghan Women, Black Women of Wellness, and Houston Food Bank) in her name to congratulate her on the Butter (Remix). As part of her ceremony to receive the key to the city of Houston, the non-profit Pete and Thomas Foundation donated $5,000 to three people in Houston to assist with their education, housing and wellness expenses.

Personal life

Megan Thee Stallion mentioned being part Creole in her songs "Cocky AF" and "Freak Nasty" as well as in a tweet in September 2017. Her mother, Holly Thomas, died in March 2019 from a longstanding cancerous brain tumor, and Megan's grandmother died in the same month. She mentioned her mother's death in her song "Flip Flop" from the album, Traumazine, released on August 12, 2022. In January 2024, fans of Nicki Minaj doxed the location of Holly Thomas's grave before Minaj's single "Big Foot" was released.

Megan is a self-described fan of anime and her favorites are My Hero Academia and Naruto. Manga artist Shōta Noguchi, who assists My Hero Academia creator Kōhei Horikoshi, has published several renditions of MHA character Rumi Usagiyama using Instagram photos of Megan Thee Stallion as reference. In turn, Megan Thee Stallion published photos of her 2022 Halloween costume of Usagiyama. She has previously cosplayed as MHA character Shoto Todoroki and Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon.

Megan Thee Stallion confirmed her relationship with fellow rapper Pardison Fontaine via Instagram Live on February 19, 2021. The pair ended their relationship in 2023. Megan Thee Stallion has been linked to basketball player Torrey Craig and footballer Romelu Lukaku. Despite the speculation, Megan has not confirmed either relationship and remains publicly single.

In addition to acting as her manager, Megan's grandmother was a major influence on her decision to study health administration and also helped foster her goal to establish assisted living facilities in her hometown of Houston.

Tory Lanez, pictured in 2016

Lawsuit and departure from 1501 Certified Entertainment

In 2020 Megan Thee Stallion filed suit against her record label 1501 Certified Entertainment to renegotiate her contract, after her management company Roc Nation found it "iffy". She started the hashtag "#FreeTheeStallion" to raise awareness of the issue, noting that "[she did not] understand some of the verbiage" when she signed the initial contract with 1501.

On March 6, 2020, she released the EP, Suga, against the wishes of 1501, after a judge granted a temporary restraining order against the label.

When Megan published an album in 2021, the record label did not recognize it as an album, because it has 29 minutes of new material instead of 45, so the rapper would have to release two more albums in addition to Something. On February 18, 2022, Megan filed suit against the label claiming that Something respects the definition of an album with at least 45 minutes of material.

On August 12, 2022, the rapper published the second studio album Traumazine, writing with its announcement about the lawsuit, expressing her disappointment and emotional distress at the difficulty she is experiencing in releasing her music, but ending her message to fans with the phrase "we almost out". The week after the album's release, the rapper filed a new complaint, seeking recognition of her performance under the contract, and also asking for $1 million in damages. The label's law firm stated that Megan would be summoned for an in-person deposition in mid-October, and that a ruling would be issued by May 2023. On October 19, 2023, attorneys for 1501 Certified Entertainment confirmed that "Megan Thee Stallion and 1501 Certified are pleased to announce that they have mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences, [...] As part of the arrangement, both parties have agreed to amicably part ways".

Discography

Albums

• Good News (2020)
• Traumazine (2022)
• Megan (2024; reissued as Megan: Act II)

Filmography

Film

Television

Tours

Supporting

• Legendary Nights Tour (for Meek Mill and Future) (2019)
• Future Nostalgia Tour (for Dua Lipa) (2022)

Awards and nominations

See also

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• Southern hip hop
• List of YouTubers