Megan Thee Stallion Went Full Freedom-Fighting Road Warrior In Her BET Awards Medley

Megan Thee Stallion’s “quarantine girl summer” is turning out to be the hottest season of all. The Houston rapper had her first No. 1 single, as well as an EP reach the top 10. It was all capped on Sunday (June 28), when she delivered a sexy (and political) performance for the socially distant BET Awards.

Megan’s pre-recorded performance began with her newest single, “Girls in the Hood,” which released on Friday (June 26). She appeared out of a Mad Max fantasy: Rolling up in a desert scene on the back of a stripped-down motorbike, she wore knee-high lace-up boots and an S&M bralette decked out with silver O-rings; her shoulders were covered with red and black feathers, while her long hair streamed behind. As the lyrics to her newest single suggest: “I’m a hot girl / I do hot shit / Spend his income / On my outfit.”

While lonesome oil cans sat in the background and graffiti-kissed train cars whizzed by, Megan and her crew of dancing, road-warrior vixens finished the song, then hopped onto skull-decorated four-wheelers, resetting the scene. The rapper segued into her hit single, “Savage.”

Standing atop a structure of metal bars and flimsy netting, Megan twerked before a Black fist, while a sign at the structure’s base read, “Black Lives Matter.” Though Beyoncé, whose addition made the “Savage” remix a breakout hit, didn’t join the performance itself, her disembodied voice sang its part. Megan finished out the performance ghost-riding a deconstructed sports bar, which appeared as a metallic peacock driven by a masked chauffeur. The whole performance read as some afrofuturist apocalypse; the revolution was already here, and in this landscape, freedom and music reign.

Prior to taking the stage, Megan accepted the award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. She is also up for best collaboration, video of the year, album of the year, and viewer’s choice award; she tied Roddy Rich for second-most nominations, with five nods, trailing Drake, with six.