Last week, one of rap’s most popular, fastest growing new artists turned heads and stirred judgement when she took to Instagram Live to air out issues with her record label contract.
Megan Thee Stallion publicly called out Carl Crawford (yes, MLB and former Red Sox player/critique), who is the CEO of her record label – 1501 Certified Entertainment. Meg claims that she’s independent and is responsible for all of her radio appearances, shows, and charting songs despite being signed to 1501.
She also claimed Carl Crawford won’t let her release new music, and stressed how that bothers her the most because of how passionate she is for music. The situation apparently spiraled when Megan asked to renegotiate her contract.
After admitting she put herself in this predicament by signing a contract she didn’t understand at the time, Meg received a ton of backlash on Twitter and other social media.
So, my question is: Why is Megan Thee Stallion receiving so much judgement online from people who have never seen or read a recording contract in their life?
She was 20 years old, didn’t have management, a legal team, or the money she has now.
Most 20-year-old’s have never even seen or signed a phone contract, little lone a legal one. It seems like people don’t understand a recording contract is more than “sign here for ___ amount of money and we own you.” There’s multiple clauses and different legal jargon used in contracts that would be easily confusing for someone with no real music industry experience.
For a 20-year-old up-and-coming artist trying to establish their self, any record deal would seem like a good one – especially when a label may be offering more money than you’d be used to seeing elsewhere.
Megan was never broke, but she definitely wasn’t well off, so at the time she couldn’t afford a lawyer to help interpret her contract. She shouldn’t be shamed for not understanding what was in her contract or the agenda her label had.
It’s also important to note Megan has a Roc Nation deal, but she is only managed by them. She claims her new management deal with Roc Nation made Crawford territorial.
Since her Instagram Live, Hot Girl Meg and Carl Crawford faced off in the courtroom, resulting in Meg being granted a restraining order – which allowed her to drop a new EP as planned this past Friday.
Amidst this ruling, Crawford’s close friend/industry honcho J. Prince (who was listed on court documents as an “intimidator”) created more drama by publicly calling out Megan in Instagram posts, which she responded to.
Meg also stopped by Hot 97 to discuss her frustrations. She’s suing Crawford at the tune of $1 million.
I’m not an expert on recording contracts nor do I claim to be, but I do think people need to have more understanding when it comes to judging one poor decision made by a 20-year-old – especially in light of all the good decisions she’s recently made.
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