Above all, two people were able to translate charisma, talent, and shock value into relatability during one of the world’s most volatile periods. In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world was placed under mandatory stay at home orders. Hollywood and Hip-Hop were clamoring to reimagine everything from previously scheduled releases, tours, and appearances. With traditional large audiences being a thing of the past and foreseeable future, an entertainment void was to be filled.
Throughout the lockdown hundreds of thousands, we were entertained by countless memes, live IG DJ sets from D-Nice, and viral challenges. All seemed to pale in comparison to the King and Queen of Quarantine, Tory Lanez, and Megan Thee Stallion. Lockdown set both up for success with Quarantine Radio and the #SavageChallenge dominating feeds and media reports.
Growing Together
Since stay at home orders were issued in late March, Tory Lanez has nearly doubled his Instagram following amassing over 4 million new followers, beating the growth rate of Quarantine Queen Megan Thee Stallion. In addition to earning her first #1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100, with Beyonce’s help and the viral #SavageChallenge, MTS helped funnel droves of new, and arguably more diverse, content creators to the controversial social media platform TikTok.
During the lockdown, Lanez managed to garner more attention during his stint of Quarantine radio shows, hosted on Instagram live. At one point in time, he was suspended for violating community guidelines. Tory held the initial record for most-viewed IG live with over 310K viewers at one time and even caught the attention of major networks. Tory said during a Billboard interview “MTV offered me something like a little 30-minute segment, but I don’t know what I want to do… But I want it to be something that the fans decide. If I end up coming up with an idea for it, hopefully, it’ll be on MTV.”
Image via @torylanez IG
Who Is Tory Lanez?
Daystar Peterson, better known as Tory Lanez, was born on July 27, 1992. He is a 5 foot 3, 120-lb. singer/songwriter/rapper and producer from Ontario, Canada but of both Bajan and Curaçao descent. Tory grew up partially in the US in Miami and started rapping at age 9. He was raised as one of many siblings with a strong religious background, being the son of a preacher. Peterson found music therapeutic after tragically losing his mother at the age of 11. Like many of today’s stars, Lanez cut his teeth releasing freestyles and accompanying music videos to YouTube and other streaming platforms before hitting it big.
Sean Kingston took to Tory after seeing his Beamers, Benz and Bentley’s Freestyle, signing him and granting Tory the chance to open up for Justin Bieber in Toronto. Lanez credits Beiber for getting him verified on Twitter in 2010. Along the way, he strategically challenged Drake (of which he was rumored to be related to at the start of his career,) Don Q, Joyner Lucas, and even singer Jacquees. However, Tory has not been without controversy. TL allegedly staged a colorism controversy on the set of a music video and almost was pursued legally for inciting a riot during a performance in 2016.
Image via @theestallion IG
Who Is Megan Thee Stallion?
Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, professionally known as Megan Thee Stallion, was born February 15, 1995. She is a 5’10” rapper/songwriter/entertainer from South Park, Houston Texas. Megan was born into Rap culture with her mother, Holly (stage name “Holly-Wood,”) trading daycare time for studio sessions. MTS formally started rapping at 16 until her mother advised her to wait until she was 21 claiming her lyrics were too suggestive for her young age. She saw her initial taste of success following her viral appearance on The Houston Cypher in 2016, helping her garner an initial social media following.
She continued posting freestyles on Instagram while in college while preparing her first release which dropped in late 2016. MTS continued garnering additional eyes releasing various freestyles and visuals on YouTube until she caught the eye of 1501 Certified Entertainment, owned by Carl Crawford. In 2018, after teaming up with 1501, Megan Thee Stallion saw an increased budget and ability to market, thus kickstarting her rebranding as a major artist with the release of “Big Ol’ Freak”, which helped catapult her into the upper echelon of Hip-Hop stardom.
Quarantine King & Queen
The parallels between Tory Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion are uncanny: collaborators of Bhad Bhabie, owners of French bulldogs, tragically lost a parent and both are breakout stars of the pandemic. In Hollywood, that’s more than enough to form the foundation of a relationship. Tory planted a seed between the two with the highly suggestive IG post from January 27. That seed would later be watered during a Quarantine Radio session on March 28th.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire – especially in such a small industry. During the lockdown, both Tory Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion were inescapable. On social media, Megan and Tory dominated trending topics, conversations, and playlists. Needless to say, I can understand how weeks of isolation could lead Megan Thee Stallion to entertain the likes of Tory Lanez. He is “swavey” after all.
Image via @torylanez IG
Upping The Ante
Lanez was riding the wave of his chart-topping “Chixtape 5” and preparing for the release of “New Toronto 3.” He was able to translate his moderate relevance into cataclysmic levels of stardom by live streaming with other celebrities on Instagram. It’s worth noting that Lanez had to have been aware of the increased visibility that comes to interacting with other accounts, dually exposing your broadcast to both audiences. This tweet manages to concisely sum up the impact Tory Lanez had in such a short amount of time:
Tory literally capitalized on this quarantine & expanded his fan base. Gave us pure entertainment with Quarantine radio, broke an IG live record, streamed a concert on YouTube, was on cover of VIBE magazine, his music JAMMIN & he independent now, & he living it up. Winning lol pic.twitter.com/d1lcJbl7Xw— Dee Holt ❄️➏ (@D_1andOnly_) July 12, 2020
-Dee Holt via Twitter
Meanwhile, after apparently overcoming legal woes with her label 1501, Megan kept trending upward and to the right, with continued success after commanding attention in 2019 as the year’s top new emcee, period. Hot off the release of her “Suga” EP featuring the warmly received lead single “B.I.T.C.H.”, a nod to Tupac’s “N.I.G.G.A”, MTS remained on track to continue her series of wins until a child and destiny aligned.
Kearra Wilson would upload a TikTok on March 10 that would go on to change pop culture forever, fuel the careers of everyone from TikTok “dancer” Charli D’amelio to Megan and Beyonce’s, and change everyone’s life seemingly except her own. That, too, is another topic ripe for another discussion.
Image via @theestallion IG
How The Tables Turned
The saying “all good things come to an end” rings true here. The relationship that existed would take a dramatic turn early in the morning on July 12, 2020. Initial reports would surface that Tory Lanez received gun charges, and Megan Thee Stallion was in the car at the time. There was no indication Megan had been the victim until additional reports would surface.
Here is a mostly complete timeline of the Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez Shooting incident:
- Megan Thee Stallion Goes Live on IG with Tory Lanez and Kylie Jenner
- Tory Lanez Booking Happens on Sunday 7/12 @ 8AM
- Initial Report of Tory Lanez’s Charges for Gun with MTS in the Car on TMZ
- Footage of Shooting Aftermath with Megan walking with Bloody Feet Leaked Online
- Clarification/Allegation of Tory shooting Megan
- Megan Breaks her silence on Twitter
- No Jumper Insider Story Claims about what happened between MTS and TL
- Megan Responds on IG Live
- Poorly Worded Petition to Deport Tory Lanez gains traction crossing 10,000 signatures
- Megan Receives Her Flowers and Support from Beyonce, Rihanna, and other celebrities
- Kehlani Removes TL from “Can I” music video and sympathizes with MTS
- MTS Announces New Single with Cardi B
- Tory Lanez Deportation Rumors
- TL Rep Refutes Claim, Discovered Laying Low in Orlando
- MTS Announced as Global Ambassador for iconic makeup brand Revlon
- MTS Releases New Video with Cardi B
- MTS Described feeling “Betrayed” by her friends
- MTS Names Tory Lanez as Shooter
The Theories About What Happened
I won’t entertain these, but I will share the most popular ones.
No Jumper – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7kNVsxqQ48
Not a DJ Akademiks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAaRQRor_bI
Empressive – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEeOMyVSJsI
Tory Lanez will be fine. He will still book shows, release albums, and host his little IG live show. Hip hop culture and the larger music industry loves protecting Black men who’ve harmed Black women. It’s a defiant reminder of the little regard they have for Black women’s pain.
— Evette Dionne (@freeblackgirl) July 28, 2020
As of now, this remains an unsolved mystery. A conclusion to this saga is far from over. As we await further details from the charges Tory faces, he remains lowkey while Megan is continuing her reign. I’m completely enamored and devoted to keeping this post updated as the story unfolds.
