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Megan Thee Stallion (real name Megan Pete) is the next Cardi B - only even more explicit in the best possible way. Her lyrics are equal parts raunchy and playful, her style is yee-haw gone bad girl, and she already caught Drake’s eye in Las Vegas.
She also originated the fun meme #HotGirlSummer.
If you’ve been wondering what exactly a hot girl summer entails - but more importantly, how you can have one yourself, we’ve got all the inspiration you need.
How did it start? The 24-year-old Houston-born rapper went viral when a freestyle she performed while still in college at Texas Southern University took the Internet by storm. Her music career might have exploded since then, especially after signing with 300 Entertainment, but she's finishing up her final semester by taking online classes. She even plans on opening assisted living homes in Texas after she graduates to give her classmates jobs.
A stallion means "a tall fine girl in the south." But the 'Freak Nasty' rapper also calls herself “Hot Girl Meg” and her fans are “hotties.” She regularly uses social media to encourage said hotties to have a "hot girl summer." But how can you have one?
Vice UK asked fans what having a hot girl summer meant to them and the answers varied, ranging from "A hot girl summer is about you being you, innit" to "It's about living my best life, feeling like a bad man and doing what I have to do." Urban Dictionary defines it simply as "a summer full of fun."
Megan herself explained the meme to The Root. “It’s basically about women — and men — just being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up your friends, doing you, not giving a damn about what nobody got to say about it. You definitely have to be a person that can be the life of the party, and, y’know, just a bad bitch,” she said.
So yes, that means men are equally capable of having a hot girl summer.
And in an interview with Essence, she said, “You need to be confident. You need to be the life of the party. And you need to be positive.”
The New York Times detailed just exactly how the rising rapper was “preparing for a hot girl summer” by hosting a beauty pageant where a $2,500 scholarship went to the winner.
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That’s not the only event she’s hosted for her hotties - in June, hundreds of her fans joined her on the Santa Monica Pier for a beach cleanup, proving that a hot girl summer is equal parts confident and philanthropic.
The summer of the thirst trap is so 2018. It's all about having a hot girl summer now.
Here are some dos and don'ts of what's quickly becoming a movement.
Do:
Post plenty of selfies with the appropriate hashtag. There are already more than 80,000 Instagram posts utilizing the same hashtag so you'll be in good company.
Don't:
Spend hours trying to get the perfect shot with a long-suffering Instagram husband (or wife) - perfectly airbrushed pictures are not what a hot girl summer is about (we're looking at you, Kylie Jenner crew).
Don't:
Let anyone ignore you, including gentleman callers, though catching a man is not the primary purpose of a hot girl summer.
Do:
Remember that even boys can embrace their inner hot girl and have just as hot of a hot girl summer. Especially if they're hanging with Megan.
Don't:
Let climate change stop you. The sweatier the selfies the better. (Of course, you still should try to stop climate change.)
Do:
Drive the boat (i.e. let those cocktails flow at any party you go to). Bonus points if you BYOB - bring your own bottle.
Don't:
Let a significant other stop you from thriving. Even people in a relationship can embrace their inner hot girl - although it's more fun if you're single.
Do:
Spend time with your squad all summer long - even if your squad is a deer.