At Nu Metal Agenda, we take it as our mission to remind everyone, every day, that over the last five years or so, nu metal has had something of a revival. A new generation of bands who grew up with Korn, Slipknot, Papa Roach and more are now turning around and putting out their own music, including acts like Tallah, Vended, and Tetrarch. That said, in the US we’re not seeing much metal in the mainstream. Shows like the American version of The Voice focus more on pop music, while its Finnish cousin has had contestants audition with Slipknot’s “Psychosocial” as recently as this year.
Hip-hop, however, is very much in the mainstream, and reigning supreme is Houston’s own Hot Girl, Megan Thee Stallion. Megan has had a hell of a year so far, between hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, releasing the eponymous Megan in June and the re-issue Megan: Act II just last week, and her song “Neva Play” being licensed as the official theme song for WWE Friday Night SmackDown. But why should we as lovers of heavy music be concerned? Well, if her post-1501 Entertainment releases are any indication, she has a working relationship with one of metal’s hottest rising acts in Spiritbox, and the work they’ve put out so far is helping to raise the torch for nu metal once again.
At the tail end of 2023, the lawsuit between Megan Thee Stallion and 1501 Entertainment, her then-record label, was finally settled, ending a nasty court battle that centered around the specifics of her 2021 release Something For Thee Hotties. Following the suit, Megan pledged to release her next music independently, and she did so with the self-reflective “Cobra.”
Lyrically, "Cobra" centered around her resilience in the face of adversity, trauma, and infidelity, with bars about her deceased parents, the demise of her relationship with Pardi, and battling with depression and anxiety.
The single was released on November 3, 2023. Five days later, a rock remix of the track was released, amping up the already rap-rock-infused song with detuned guitars and vocalist Courtney LaPlante’s wide range. LaPlante even provides the song with a new chorus: “Leave me alone in the dark / I’m shedding my skin / I need to harden my heart / To protect myself, but the pain remains within.” The collaboration landed Megan her first placement on Billboard’s US Hot Rock and Alternative Songs, peaking at #47.
On October 25, 2024, Megan: Act II was released, expanding on the original version of Megan released in the summer. On the re-issue is “TYG,” short for “Test Your Gangster,” an aggressive and confrontational track that is a two-and-a-half minute powder keg of fury, fat beats, and F-bombs. Spiritbox provides chugging guitars and screamed vocals, with LaPlante co-writing the lyrics with Megan, while guitarist Mike Stringer also helped to produce the track.
I was afraid that the “Cobra” remix was a one-off, a token flirtation with heavy music just because she could. But now that there are two songs with Spiritbox in Megan Thee Stallion’s wheelhouse, could this mean more crossover? Could we see some of her contemporaries enlist modern metal acts to do what collaborations like Run DMC and Aerosmith, Anthrax and Public Enemy, or even Jay-Z and Linkin Park did so many years ago? Either way, here’s hoping that this phenomenon of modern hip-hop and metal meeting up keeps going, whether or not it goes beyond the realm of the aforementioned Real Hot Girl Shit.
In the meantime, let’s just observe this sweet moment when Megan and Courtney met in person earlier this year:
When two worlds collide 🐍 pic.twitter.com/rzFoS8Q6c9
— PALE CHORD (@palechord) June 22, 2024
