Megan is Human, Not a Savage: What the Shooting Says About Miysogynoir and Violence Against Women in Hip Hop
On July 11th, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, R&B artist Tory Lanez and Kardashian sister Kylie Jenner were all hanging out at a private pool in Hollywood Hills as documented on Instagram Live.
A few hours later at 4 a.m, Lanez was arrested on a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon in the vehicle after receiving a disturbance call outside a Hollywood Hills residence. Megan was found in the vehicle with Lanez, her best friend Kelsey and another unidentified woman. Megan initially reported that she had a cut on her foot from glass, but it was later revealed via an Instagram post and IG Live that she was shot in both of her feet- fans immediately alleged that it was Tory who shot her indefinitely for unknown reasons neither party have made a statement on.
She wrote, “On Sunday morning, I suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me. I was never arrested, the police officers drove me to the hospital where I underwent surgery to remove the bullets.”
Tory (real name Daystar Peterson) has a trial set for October 13th and was released that following Thursday after posting a $35,000 bail. He has not publicly made any statements on his arrest or the shooting.
On Friday, July 17th, Megan made another statement via Twitter directly lauding folks about the sadistic, reductive and misogynior flavored memes that began circling the Internet.
Later in the month in a tearful Instagram Live video, Megan described how she felt about the shooting and the memes that were curated of her, also justifying that she didn’t deserve to get shot, which was heartbreaking to watch.
“It was just the worst experience of my life and it’s not funny," Megan continued. "It’s nothing to joke about. It was nothing for y’all to start going and making up fake stories about. I didn’t put my hands on nobody. I didn’t deserve to get shot. I didn't do shit.”
She went on to talk about how she was thankful that her mom, dad and grandmother (all deceased) watched over her and the bullets didn’t shatter or touch any tendon/bone, how this will not stop her from still making music and keeping her nice/sweet demeanor, but did lend a warning on energy and people you keep around you and their intentions, displaying her resilience and ability to bounce back from tragedy.
Meg Thee Stallion getting shot is part of a larger issue- misogyny in hip hop. justifying violence against Black women and the “Superwoman” complex.
When Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting was catching wind on the internet, social media erupted in superficial memes that centered on her ass, breasts and knees, ignorantly implying that her loss of sex appeal/sensuality was more highly regarded than her near death loss of life. Her face was superimposed on Ricky from Boyz in the Hood when he was shot by 50 Cent, a rapper who was notorious for being shot 8 times and surviving (documented on his hit “Many Men (Wish Death) from his Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album). The irony and lack of empathy is disgusting and tone deaf. He later apologized and deleted it after her IG Live session, but the fact that was even a though to post is sickening.
Folks showed their transphobia as well by making jokes saying that Megan’s height scared Tory (which typically, short men try to overcompensate for their lack of height in other areas appearing to be an alpha male to cover up their insecurity of lack of height compared to taller women) and he shot her, Megan’s height and deeper rapping voice are prerequisites for her to be a man, she has a penis and so much more. So if Black women aren’t granted femininity anymore, transphobic attacks are used in order to validate and justify the attack on them. It’s tiring. C-list rapper Cam’Ron responded to Megan’s traumatic experience with gun violence by displaying a now deleted Instagram post agreeing with the sentiment that her shooter “Saw that dick and started shootn…IDC what no one say.” His commentary reflects a double standard in hip-hop’s misogynistic structure, one that applauds male rappers for protecting themselves against an aggressive assailant, but blames women for behavior that results in gun/domestic violence.
Even worse was seeing the amount of women making insensitive jokes and projecting their insecurities upon the situation, making vile snarls about Megan’s height, weaponizing her sexuality and lyrics as an illegitimate way to justify the bodily harm that was inflicted on Megan. Notably, famous model and former reality tv star Draya Michelle quietly lost her Fenty endorsement from Rihanna after appearing on an interview and making a joke about Megan and wanting to get shot in the foot in the name of romance.
“I’m here for it,” said Draya. “I want somebody to like me so much that they shot me in the foot,” going on to citing that their relationship was probably a tumultuous one like Bobby and Whitney. We later found out speculation that Rihanna dropped Draya from the Fenty line when Draya posted a photo after the interview that said “Income>outcome” and social media users discovered that Draya Michelle and Fenty were no longer following each other. Rihanna is a survivor of domestic violence, having been in the public eye with her emotionally charged and painful car scuffle with Chris Brown back in 2012, so that may have lent an ear to her making the decision to stand with Meg.
We maintain and uphold oppressive foundations and frameworks by erasing and disregarding folks and groups who are marginalized, including women. In terms of white supremacy, hip hop/rap is unique because it’s one of the only spaces where straight Black men can be in positions of power, but their silence on violence against Black women in and beyond the music industry is reflective of the patriarchal values that are upheld over women’s humanity. Def Jam Recordings, Roc a Fella Records and Bad Boy Records have placed hip hop tycoons Russell Simmons, Jay-Z and Diddy as purveyors of the culture (none of which reached out to her, but used her for music/political endeavors). Wale and 21 Savage reached out to Meg, but it was mainly Black women who showed up for her because throughout history and pop culture, Black women show up for ourselves when no one else does.
Emily B didn’t deserve to get punched and beaten by Fabolous. Lil Kim didn’t deserve to get hit by Biggie, so on and so forth. Black men in hip hop and real life need to engage in the divestment of violence against women and patriarchy in order for women in hip hop and regular everyday women to thrive. Misogynoir has to die in order for women in hip hop to survive and thrive, and it’s not the responsibility of women to do so, because we will never be complicit in our own demise.