She’s outdone herself.
The serpent woman strikes again. Megan Thee Stallion’s snake alter ego, which she first introduced on 2023’s “Cobra,” is still out for blood. The rapper has been aiming at those who’ve discredited her character, and that venom’s wildly potent on her diss track, “Hiss.” Now, she’s back with a vengeance on her new single, “Boa.” While Megan’s sharp-tongued charisma shines on this track, the early aughts references in the music video is the real star of the moment.
The “Boa” video, which released on May 10, sees Megan flaunting her love of anime and iconic characters from video games. She introduces herself as a python-fighter, loosely inspired by Boa Hancock from One Piece and Mortal Kombat’s Mileena, who exists in a video game world similar to Jumanji.
As players become immersed in the game, Megan’s other fighter characters come out to play. There’s her take of Christie Monteiro from Tekken, a vibrant dancer who’s stuck on a Dance Dance Revolution set — Megan’s mind is truly unmatched.
Let’s take a closer look at all of the references in the “Boa” music video.
The pop culture references aren’t just limited to the music video. “Boa,” which is produced by her regular collaborator Lil Ju, also samples Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit “What You Waiting For?” Specifically, Stefani’s bouncy “tick-tocks” and “la-las” from the original can be heard in the chorus.
It’s time to enter Megan’s anime fighting-verse. In The Curse of The Serpent Woman game, Megan’s lead character is a hybrid of One Piece’s Boa Hancock and Mortal Kombat’s Mileena. The inspiration from both women can be seen in the rapper’s look: She dons Boa’s hime haircut, a cane that reminds of her snake weapon named Salome, and her purple outfit has a similar cut to Mileena’s default costume in the game.
Jumanji’s instructions are scarily simple: If the avatar loses all three lives in the game, the person playing said character dies. Megan’s video game has a similar premise; however, it mostly focuses on how the real-life person could die. Those annihilations can be seen in the video, such as one losing their internal organs to her serpent cane or being crushed to death by her backside — it’s wild.
The nostalgic mayhem continues. As one player reads off the games instructions, he disregards the Jumanji-esque warning as “boring” — similar to a scene from 2010’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.
The cosplays are back. Megan embodies several characters during her murderous rampage, including Christie Monteiro from Tekken. This moment could also be a small nod to Street Fighter, as Monteiro appeared in the game’s crossover with Tekken as a DLC character.
The video wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the ultimate fighter game, Street Fighter. After Megan comically murders the players, the game’s infamous knockout (“K.O.”) sign appears at the end of the video.
This isn’t just Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Jumanji’s world. Megan briefly praises Dance Dance Revolution throughout the video, teaming up with her vibrant crew to complete their dancing mission. Also, her character has a similar cut to Scott Pilgrim’s Ramona Flowers — just with the main colors swapped.
