The Singles Jukebox

The winner of 2022’s most elaborate game of peekaboo speaks…

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[6.33]

Ian Mathers: Kinda feels like it’d be hard to make eye contact with the dude in question after hearing this. 
[7]

Harlan Talib Ockey: Meg absolutely demolishes every man with the audacity to try her in less than three minutes. The only line in “Plan B” that doesn’t hit like a wrecking ball is “you’s a bitch”, a deeply awkward anticlimax at the end of the chorus. Everything else is cataclysmic in its point blank simplicity. The flow’s directness and the production’s stability also bring “Plan B” a certain level of freestyle energy that only compounds the charisma and contempt dripping from Megan’s vocals. Lastly, I’m tempted to add a point for mid-’90s nostalgia, but I’ll resist it this time.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: Using the bed of the magnificent Mr. Dalvin’s Freek Mix of Jodeci’s 1995 “Freek ‘N You,” Megan comes out spitting fire and taking no motherfucking prisoners on “Plan B,” occasionally rapping in cadences reminiscent of classic ’90s hip hop. (Was this focus grouped specifically for my hip hop tastes?) At one point she interpolates Lil’ Kim’s verse on Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Player’s Anthem,” which makes a lot of sense; in more ways than one, Megan is the truest heir yet to Kim, able to both unleash raw, strictly-for-the-heads verses and drop poppier records (cf. “Sweetest Pie”) without missing a beat. 
[9]

Andrew Karpan: The dance collabs still seem to pay the bills for prime-era Megan Thee Stallion, but the solo outings really tell stories about the daily life of one the country’s few true top-line, classic-style rappers who also make pop records. If “Thot Shit” was about how heavy is the crown of such responsibilities, “Plan B” doubles down on the classicism by way of a Wu-Tang sample, used to somewhat aggressive effect. “Dick don’t run me, I run dick,” she raps, a line that alludes in no uncertain terms to her own attempts to run the rap game. 
[6]

Edward Okulicz: Megan Thee Stallion has the potential to come out with a song where she doesn’t just wield her sexuality and power like a sword, she actually impales everyone with it. Alas this isn’t it — almost everything she said has been said, even verbatim, by other rappers. Her presence nearly always impresses, but here it just reminds me how ahead of her time Lil’ Kim was.
[3]

Nortey Dowuona: Lowkey? Meg should’ve gotten Raekwon and Ghost on this one too. Mr. Dalvin’s work is so immortal that the beat is barely changed at all. As for the raps, Meg is pretty bitter and cool, her flow slow and her measured snapping off at the last word (face, places; work, deserve; sleep, eat; trust you, fucked you) feeling like a sharp, short slap across the cheeks each time. But it’s not as intricate or as dazzling as Rae or Ghost’s were, and it only gains most of its power due to who it’s aimed at. Still, “the only accolade you had is that I fucked you” is a very damning one-liner.
[6]