When Meg thee Stallion screamed with joy "this is my first tour, y'all" during her headlining performance at Madison Square Garden, also known as the World's Most Famous Arena, I was shocked. Surely this could not be true. Surely one of the biggest rappers on the planet must've toured behind any number of her smash singles or mixtapes. No way the woman who guested with Beyoncé on her history-making Grammy award, played SNL, and had one of the biggest singles of the pandemic-era had never done a proper tour of her home country. It was a bit of a mind-blowing thought (and made me immediately recall that even the icon Missy Misdemeanor Elliott was only just about to set out on her first ever headlining tour) and one that was made even more confounding while watching her dominate the stage with the tenacity and knowhow of someone who has been doing the work for ages. While she may have never done her own tour, Meg is certainly no stranger to the stage and that was apparent from the moment she rose from the floor to assert herself as thee moment. As she began her onslaught of whip-smart rhymes and high-caliber visuals on massive screens, it was clear within moments that this career first was long overdue. Riffling through her tracks, her flow was sinister and she took no prisoners as she spat each verse with serious swagger and the force to back it up. Accompanies by an elite crew of dancers, the stage was a constant barrage of real hot girl shit as they flexed their bodies across the floor with serious gusto and movements like you would not believe. It was a celebration and a night of freedom of expression, the crowd showing massive enthusiasm for the women onstage who owned their bodies and movements with unrelenting positivity. Meg herself was also a star and never shied away from the spotlight, her legs doing the werk while she bounced her bountiful hair with utter poise, stalking the stage like a real boss and letting the crowd eat it up. As soon as she accelerated into "Thot Shit," the building erupted and began to shake with the excitement of the crowd, the dancers doing everything to get the people going apeshit while demonstrating meticulous control combined with pure hotness. "Freak Nasty" was another banger that had the crowd leaping out of their seats and "Body" was another sure-fire hit that had the place bumping, but after a few costume changes, no one was prepared for what was to come next. After making her way back to the stage in a new outfit (her third of the night), Meg took to one side of the stage as the DJ hit the beat for "Bongos" and Cardi appeared to join the party as the crowd went absolutely bananas. With the two rappers showcasing ear-to-ear smiles, they knew they had the arena eating out of their hands as they traded bars back and forth before the beat switch to "WAP" annihilated the entire building. As the hook ran through the speakers, the moment transcended beyond belief and the realization hit that this was indeed happening as madness took its toll on all in attendance. To hear all of Madison Square Garden deliver the verses to the song in perfect unison was unforgettable and the crowd chanting "I want you to touch that little dangly thing that hangs in the back of my throat" at full-volume is something I'll replay in my mind for quite some time. If there was any downfall to the night it would be that this wasn't the end and that there were a few tracks before the finale of "Savage," a song that still slaps hard with the anthemic impact it deserves, but nothing hit the peak of the moment when two of the biggest names in the game took to the stage for a song of a generation. Now that's some real hot girl shit, ah.
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