The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2025 - Issue 37

bitemusicceleb Megan’s fifth top 10 album in the U.S. and later certified Gold by the RIAA. Critics praised the album’s emo- tional honesty, production quality, and Megan’s growth as a storyteller. However, its rollout was marred by ongoing legal battles with her label, 1501 Certified Ent. Megan accused the label of leaking tracks and failing to promote the album adequately, which she believed impacted its international performance. The dispute was eventually resolved in 2023 with a confidential settle- ment. In 2024, Megan Thee Stallion released her self-ti- tled album, Megan , which blended global influences, personal symbolism, and genre-defying collaborations. One of its most talked about tracks is ‘Mamushi’, a bilin- gual, cross-cultural anthem encapsulating the album’s adventurous spirit. It features Japanese rapper and singer Yuki Chiba (formerly known as KOHH). The title refers to a venomous snake native to Japan, reinforcing Megan’s ongoing motif of shedding skin and embracing rebirth. The track produced by Japanese hip-hop producer Ko- shy is a sleek, minimalist blend of trap and icy synths, with both artists rapping in English and Japanese. The chorus is clever in its linguistic play: Chiba raps, ‘Okane kasegu, orera wa sutā’ (We make money, we are stars), using the masculine pronoun ore. Megan follows with ‘Watashi wa sutā’ (I’m a star), using the feminine watashi—a subtle assertion of gendered identity and global fluency. The music video, directed by Kevin ‘Onda’ Leyva, premiered in August 2024 and was filmed at Tsuruma- ki Onsen Jinya and Engaku-ji Temple in Kanagawa and Kamakura, Japan. It draws inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film Dreams, blending traditional Jap- anese aesthetics with futuristic, neon-drenched visuals. Megan plays a fierce, otherworldly assassin navigating a surreal underworld—a visual metaphor for power and transformation. Since Mamushi’, the rapper has released ‘Bigger In Texas’, ‘Roc Steady’ featuring female rapper and singer-songwriter Flo Milli and recently ‘Whenever’. She concluded her United States tour at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater and SummerFest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 28 June 2025. https://store.megantheestallion.com