Megan Thee Stallion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Megan Thee Stallion
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Megan Jovon Ruth Pete
February 15, 1995 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
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| Education | Texas Southern University (BS) |
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| Years active | 2016–present |
| Awards | Full list |
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| Origin | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
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Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (born February 15, 1995), known as Megan Thee Stallion, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She grew up in Houston, Texas. She first became famous when videos of her freestyling (making up raps on the spot) went viral on social media like Instagram. She signed with 1501 Certified Entertainment in 2018.
Megan Thee Stallion had two number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2020. These were "Savage Remix" (with Beyoncé) and her part on Cardi B's song "WAP". "Savage Remix" won two Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. "WAP" was her first number-one song in many countries. It was also the first song to top the Billboard Global 200 chart.
Her first studio album, Good News (2020), was very popular and successful. It reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart. The album included the song "Body". This made her the first female artist to have three number-one songs on the Streaming Songs chart in one year. Her 2022 song "Sweetest Pie" (with Dua Lipa) was also a big hit. It came out before her second album, Traumazine (2022), which reached number four on the Billboard 200. In 2024, her song "Hiss" from her third album Megan (2024) became her first solo song to top the Billboard Hot 100. It also made her the first solo female rapper to debut at number one on the Billboard Global 200 chart.
Megan has won many awards. These include six BET Awards, five BET Hip Hop Awards, four American Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. She also won 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. Lauryn Hill was the first in 1999. In 2020, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Contents
Early Life and School
Megan Jovon Ruth Pete was born on February 15, 1995, in San Antonio, Texas. Her mother, Holly Thomas, moved them to Houston right after Megan was born. Holly Thomas was a rapper known as "Holly-Wood." She would take Megan to recording sessions instead of daycare.
Megan grew up in the South Park area of Houston. When she was 14, she moved with her mother to Pearland. She started writing raps at age 14. When she showed her mother her rapping skills at 18, her mother told her to wait until she was 21 to make it a career. Megan went to Pearland High School and finished in 2013. Her father passed away during her first year of high school.
In 2013, while Megan was a student at Prairie View A&M University, she started putting videos of herself freestyling online. A video of her rapping against male opponents in a "cypher" (a group rap session) became very popular. This helped Megan get more followers on social media. She gained fans by posting her freestyles on Instagram while in college. She says her very active fans helped her early success. After taking some time off from school, Megan went back to her studies at Texas Southern University. She graduated on December 11, 2021, with a degree in health administration.
She chose the stage name "Megan Thee Stallion" because people called her a "stallion" when she was younger. This was because of her height (about 5 feet 10 inches) and strong build.
Music Career Highlights
How She Started
In April 2016, Megan Thee Stallion released her first song, "Like a Stallion." After that, she released small mixtapes (collections of songs) only on SoundCloud. These were Rich Ratchet (2016) and Megan Mix (2017). In September 2017, Megan Thee Stallion officially released her first EP (Extended Play, a collection of songs shorter than an album) called Make It Hot. The song "Last Week in HTx" from this EP became her most successful song at that time. It got millions of views on YouTube. In 2017, Megan Thee Stallion released "Stalli (Freestyle)." This was her own version of the song "Look at Me!" by XXXTentacion.
Around this time, Megan Thee Stallion tried out for a TV show called Love & Hip Hop: Houston. However, the show was put on hold in June 2016.
Rising to Fame
In early 2018, Megan Thee Stallion signed with 1501 Certified Entertainment. This was an independent music label in Houston run by T. Farris and owned by former baseball player Carl Crawford. She was the first female rapper to sign with this label. She performed at SXSW (a big music festival) in March 2018.
In June 2018, Megan Thee Stallion released a 10-song EP called Tina Snow under the label. The EP was named after her alter ego (a different personality she uses), "Tina Snow." She described Tina Snow as a "more raw version" of herself. Tina Snow was mostly produced by LilJuMadeDaBeat. Critics liked the EP. Nandi Howard from The Fader said she could rap with "electrifying pace and precision." In November 2018, Megan Thee Stallion announced she had signed with 300 Entertainment. This made her the first female rapper to sign with that label too.
On January 22, 2019, Megan Thee Stallion released "Big Ole Freak" as a song from her Tina Snow EP. She also made a music video for it. On April 15, "Big Ole Freak" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This was Megan Thee Stallion's first song to appear on that chart. It later reached number 65.
Fever, her second mixtape, came out on May 17, 2019. The album was highly praised by critics and appeared on many "best of the year" lists. Paper magazine called it the best album of 2019. Taylor Crumpton from Pitchfork gave the album a high rating. She wrote that Megan's rapping was like "successions from a fully automatic machine gun." On May 21, 2019, she released the music video for the first song on the album, "Realer." This video was inspired by the blaxploitation film style.
On June 20, 2019, she was chosen as one of eleven artists for XXL magazine's "Freshman Class." Her freestyle rap in the group session was praised by music critics. In July 2019, Chance The Rapper released his first album, The Big Day. Megan Thee Stallion was featured on the song "Handsome." On August 2, 2019, A Black Lady Sketch Show started on HBO.
She was also on the Quality Control album, Quality Control: Control the Streets, Volume 2. She was on the song "Pastor" with 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 called Hottieween. It was directed by Teyana Taylor. That same month, she performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert. In November 2019, Time magazine put Megan Thee Stallion on their first "Time 100 Next" list.
Becoming a Star
In January 2020, Megan Thee Stallion released the song "Diamonds" with singer Normani. This song was for the movie Birds of Prey. In the same month, she announced her debut album Suga and released the first song from it, "B.I.T.C.H.". In February 2020, she was featured on the song "Fkn Around" by Phony Ppl. She also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform "B.I.T.C.H.".
On March 6, 2020, she released the EP, Suga. This happened after a judge allowed her to release it, despite issues with her label. That same month, the song "Savage" from the EP became very popular on TikTok. A user named Keara Wilson created a dance challenge with it. A remix featuring Beyoncé was released on April 29, 2020. "Savage" became Megan Thee Stallion's first song to reach the top 10 in the U.S. and then her first number-one hit. "Savage" also helped Suga climb to number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. Money from the song went to a Houston charity called Bread of Life. This charity helps people affected by COVID-19. Megan Thee Stallion was also a judge on the HBO Max voguing competition show Legendary, which started in May 2020.
She released the song "Girls in the Hood" on June 26, 2020. Then, she was featured on Cardi B's song "WAP" and appeared in its music video in August 2020. "WAP" became her second number-one song in the U.S. It broke the record for the most streams for a song in its first week (93 million).
Megan Thee Stallion became a global ambassador for Revlon (a beauty company) in August 2020. She received her first Billboard Music Award nomination in September 2020. A few days later, she was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people. Taraji P. Henson wrote about her for this list. Megan Thee Stallion received eight nominations at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards. She also tied with Justin Bieber for the most nominations at the 2020 People's Choice Awards. Megan Thee Stallion was also the second most-nominated artist at the 2020 American Music Awards.
In October 2020, she released the song "Don't Stop" featuring rapper Young Thug. She performed it on Saturday Night Live. She also performed a "politically charged" version of "Savage" that evening. In this performance, she spoke about racism and the importance of protecting black women and the Black Lives Matter movement. She continued this work by writing an op-ed (opinion piece) for The New York Times called "Why I Speak Up for Black Women." This article was well-received. Megan Thee Stallion appeared in the 2020 comedy special Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine.
She received four nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. These included Best New Artist and Record of the Year for "Savage (Remix)". She won Best New Artist, becoming the first female hip hop artist to do so since Lauryn Hill in 1999. She also won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for "Savage (Remix)".
On November 13, 2020, Megan Thee Stallion announced her first studio album, Good News. It was released on November 20, 2020. The album's release happened at the same time as its fourth song, "Body," and its music video. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. On January 14, 2021, Megan Thee Stallion was featured on the remix of Ariana Grande's song "34+35" with Doja Cat. A music video for the remix came out on February 12, 2021.
Megan Thee Stallion won the most awards at the 2021 BET Awards ceremony with four. The K-pop group BTS released a remix of their song "Butter" featuring Megan Thee Stallion. This song reached number three on the Billboard Global 200. She also had the most nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Cardi B. Both rappers won three awards for "WAP." Megan Thee Stallion was featured on DJ Snake's song "SG" with Ozuna and Lisa of Blackpink. This song was released in October.
On September 16, 2021, Post Malone announced that Megan Thee Stallion would be one of the performers at his Posty Fest 2021 in Arlington, Texas. Megan was honored as one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year in November. Megan won three awards at the 2021 American Music Awards. She tied with Doja Cat and BTS for the most awards that night.
Megan Thee Stallion graduated from Texas Southern University on December 11, 2021. Soon after, she received the 18th Congressional District of Texas Hero Award from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. This was for her charity work in Houston. After her graduation, she signed a special deal with Netflix. This deal means she will create and produce TV shows and other projects for them.
Her Unique Style
Who Inspired Her
Megan Thee Stallion says her mother was her first and biggest inspiration. Other artists she has mentioned as influences include the Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim, Queen Latifah, Eve, Three 6 Mafia, Trina, Salt-N-Pepa, Missy Elliott, and Foxy Brown. She also says Q-Tip was her mentor. She has said that when she was growing up in the 2000s, she would listen to her favorite rap songs and wonder, "How good would this sound if a girl did it?"
She has also been influenced by Beyoncé. In her Grammy Awards 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."
Her Signature Moves
- Signature Ad Lib: Megan is known for a special sound she makes while rapping. She sticks her tongue out and makes a "creaky," "agh" or "blah" sound.
- Twitter Emoji: In August 2019, Twitter created an official emoji (a small picture) for this tongue symbol. You could make it appear by using the hashtag "#MeganTheeStallion." This symbol also inspired the picture on the cover art of her EP Suga, which was shown in March 2020.
Giving Back
In November 2019, she gave $15,400 worth of Thanksgiving turkeys. She helped hand them out to 1,050 families in need at the Houston Food Bank. In April 2020, she donated over $10,000 to help pay bail for protestors in Houston. In the same month, Megan worked with Amazon Music to donate to a nursing home in Houston. All the money from her collaboration with Beyoncé on the "Savage (remix)" song went to Bread of Life. This charity helps Houston communities with Covid-19 relief. The song raised over $2.5 million.
In October 2020, she partnered with Amazon Music to start the "Don't Stop" scholarship fund. This fund gave two women of color, who were studying for college degrees, $10,000 each. In February 2021, she launched "** Helping Houston" with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and other groups and celebrities. This effort helped senior citizens and single mothers recover from a storm in the area. In March 2021, she worked with Fashion Nova for the "Women on Top" program. This program gave away $1 million to support businesses and organizations owned by women. In the same month, she, Fashion Nova, and journalist May Lee donated $50,000 to a legal non-profit after the Atlanta spa shootings.
In June 2021, she offered a full four-year scholarship to the Roc Nation school of music, sports & entertainment at Long Island University.
In October 2021, as part of her deal with Popeyes (a fast-food chain), she made a large donation to the charity Houston Random Acts of Kindness.
The BTS Army (fans of the K-pop group BTS) started "Thee Army Fund" project. They raised over $120,000 to donate to three different organizations. These were Woman for Afghan Women, Black Women of Wellness, and Houston Food Bank. They did this in her name to congratulate her on the Butter (Remix). When she received the key to the city of Houston, her non-profit, the Pete and Thomas Foundation, donated $5,000 to three people in Houston. This money helped with their education, housing, and health needs.
Acting and TV Shows
In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion was a judge on the first season of HBO's dance competition show Legendary. She continued as a judge for the second season in 2021. On December 16, 2021, she signed a special deal with Netflix. This deal means she will create and produce new TV shows and other projects for them.
On February 17, 2022, it was announced that Megan would act in A24's first movie musical called Dicks: The Musical. She stars alongside famous actors like Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally. She also appeared as a guest star in the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. She played a fictional version of herself.
In January 2024, Megan Thee Stallion made a small appearance in the movie musical Mean Girls. She also helped write an original song for its soundtrack called "Not My Fault" with Reneé Rapp. Megan was also 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 difficult time in her life. It is called Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words and was released on October 31, 2024.
Her Music Journey Ends with a Win
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In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion had some disagreements with her record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Her management company, Roc Nation, thought her contract was unfair. She used the hashtag "#FreeTheeStallion" to bring attention to the issue. She explained that she didn't fully understand some parts of the contract when she first signed it.
On March 6, 2020, she released the EP, Suga. She did this even though the label didn't want her to, after a judge gave her temporary permission.
When Megan released an album in 2021, the record label said it wasn't a full album. They said it had 29 minutes of new music instead of 45 minutes. This meant she would have to release more albums to fulfill her contract. On February 18, 2022, Megan took legal action against the label. She argued that her album met the definition of an album with at least 45 minutes of material.
On August 12, 2022, the rapper released her second studio album, Traumazine. When she announced it, she spoke about the ongoing legal issues. She shared her frustration and sadness about how hard it was to release her music. But she ended her message to fans by saying, "we almost out." The week after the album came out, the rapper filed a new complaint. She wanted her work under the contract to be recognized. She also asked for money for damages.
On October 19, 2023, lawyers for 1501 Certified Entertainment announced that Megan Thee Stallion and the label had reached a private agreement. They said they were happy to have solved their legal differences. As part of the agreement, both sides decided to go their separate ways in a friendly manner.
Personal Life and Interests
Megan is a big fan of anime (Japanese animation). Her favorite anime shows are My Hero Academia and Naruto. A manga artist who helps create My Hero Academia has drawn characters using Megan Thee Stallion's Instagram photos as inspiration. Megan Thee Stallion has also dressed up as anime characters for Halloween, like Rumi Usagiyama from My Hero Academia and Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon.
Megan's grandmother was a big reason she decided to study health administration. Her grandmother also encouraged her goal to open assisted living facilities (places where older people can live with some help) in her hometown of Houston.
Albums and Songs
Albums
- Good News (2020)
- Traumazine (2022)
- Megan (2024; reissued as Megan: Act II)
Movies and TV Shows
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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| 2023 | Dicks: The Musical | Gloria | ||
| Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé | Herself | |||
| 2024 | Mean Girls | Herself | Cameo appearance | |
| Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words | Herself |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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| 2019 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Musical guest | Episode: "Tracy Morgan/Gwen Stefani/Megan Thee Stallion" |
| 2020 | Saturday Night Live | Episode: "Chris Rock/Megan Thee Stallion" | |
| Good Girls | Onyx | Episode: "Nana" | |
| 2020–21 | Legendary | Herself | Judge (Season 1–2) |
| 2022 | P-Valley | Tina Snow (alter ego) | Guest star (Season 2) |
| Cardi Tries | Herself | Episode: "Cardi Tries Football" | |
| Gutsy | Episode: "Gutsy Women Refuse Hate" | ||
| She-Hulk: Attorney at Law | Episode: "The People vs. Emil Blonsky" | ||
| Saturday Night Live | Host/Musical guest | Episode: "Megan Thee Stallion/Megan Thee Stallion" | |
| 2023 | Big Mouth | Megan | Guest star (Season 7) |
| 2024 | Saturday Night Live | Guest performer | Episode: "Jacob Elordi/Reneé Rapp" |
Live Performances
Supporting Tours
Awards She's Won
More to Explore
In Spanish: Megan Thee Stallion para niños
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- Southern hip hop
- List of YouTubers
