The 'Traumazine' rapper raked in an impressive $13 million in 2022 and is the first Black woman to grace the annual issue's cover.
Megan Thee Stallion continues to break glass ceilings! The 27-year-old graces this year's cover for Forbes' 30 Under 30 issue, cementing her legacy as the first Black woman to do so.
According to the business publication's estimation, Megan brought in $13 million in 2022 through royalties, ticket sales, merch, and endorsements.
"I can't slow down right now," Megan says of her success so far. "I'll take a break when I'm dead. I'm trying to really build something. When I start sitting, I feel like I'm not doing enough or I'm giving somebody else the opportunity to pass me."
"It's really hard to be the first something in 2022, so ah!" the star says in her video interview with Forbes. "I want to be bigger than just my music. I want people to know Megan as everything that she ever wanted to be. Megan the artist. I feel I've always liked to dabble and dab in a lot of different things, and I feel like I got that from my mom and my dad. My dad was a street guy, he was an entrepreneur, he had his own clothing line. My mother, I watched her go to work nine-to-five every day, and come home and write songs. And take me to the studio, and be a mom, and be just a good woman in general."
The rapper also opened up about the August release of her album, Traumazine, explaining that exposing her vulnerabilities in the deeply personal lyrical content made her "nervous."
"This album was really personal to me. This is, like, the first time I ever, you know, talked about things that I'm feeling or talked about things that I'm going through. So it kind of made me nervous to write a lot of these songs," Megan tells the outlet. "It makes me nervous to perform some of these songs. And I was kinda just like, 'OK, I'mma write this stuff and I'mma just put it out. Hmm, Hotties, what you got to say about this?'"
"My emotions sometimes make me a little nervous," the rapper adds. "Like, to be vulnerable can make me a little nervous sometimes so...I just feel like I'm still processing how the album feels to other people."
"It made me feel happy that the time I did decide to be vulnerable and talk about something I was going through, it was one of the favorites from all of my fans, and I really appreciate it and they made me feel comfortable, like it's OK to not be OK and it's OK to tell y'all I'm not OK," she says.
In September, the rapper took her fans' response to her vulnerability as inspiration to launch a website called "Bad B**ches Have Bad Days Too," which provides users with links to free therapy organizations, suicide and substance abuse helplines, among other resources.
The site title is taken from a chorus line of the lyrics from Megan's single, "Anxiety." The song is one of the tracks from Traumazine and details the workings of her mind -- from her insecurities, anxieties and grief.
“Bounce back like bad b**ches always do,” reads a quote displayed on the site.
The site provides four categories of resources -- free therapy organizations, mental health hotlines, resource directories and LGBTQIA+ community resources -- along with a menu of useful links to external mental health websites, many of which are focused on serving BIPOC and those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
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