Megan Thee Stallion has had her supporters proclaiming #FreeTheStallion after venting on Instagram Live about indie label 1501 Certified Entertainment refusing to allow her to release new music after she requested to renegotiate her contract. But the label’s CEO, former Major League Baseball player Carl Crawford, insists that he’s unjustifiably getting a bad rap.
In an interview with Billboard, Crawford says that he gave Megan Thee Stallion (real name Megan Pete) a reasonable contract for a new artist, but that she and her manager T. Farris are trying to avoid paying him moneys owed.
“She got 8 million followers that know they can pounce on me because I’m smaller. She know she gon’ win when it comes to that sh-t right there, but I don’t care about that,” Crawford told Billboard. “They can thrash me or whatever they do, but the real is you got Hollywood and you got up under Roc Nation and you’re acting like you don’t have to honor your contract no more. Then, you want to say you tried to negotiate? Man, you sent your lawyers in there and they want to take me out.”
After Megan’s Instagram Live session, a Texas federal judge granted her a temporary restraining order against 1501 Certified Entertainment, and to “do nothing to prevent the release, distribution, and sale of Pete’s new records,” and also prevented interference with her career via social media or through collaborators and associates.
Crawford confirmed the claims of Megan Thee Stallion’s lawsuit, which claimed that 1501 Certified Entertainment gets 60 percent of recording income and that she gets 40 percent, and that 1501 receives 30 percent of her income from touring and merchandise. But he also added that Megan Thee Stallion has retained part of her masters in the deal, so that her allegations of him being “greedy” are off-base.
“Let’s talk about your contract. It’s a great contract for a first-timer,” he said. “What contract gives parts of their masters and 40% royalties and all that kind of stuff? Ask Jay-Z to pull one of his artists’ first contracts, and let’s compare it to what Megan got… I guarantee they won’t ever show you that.”
Crawford also has said that Megan hasn’t paid her moneys owed from the contract since she signed with Roc Nation management in August, and that she and T. Farris, Crawford’s business partner who was handling Megan’s career, are attempting to force him out so that she can sign with Roc Nation.
“Their real plan was to get you out of my contract so they can sign you to Roc Nation. That’s all they want to do. … She signed with Roc Nation in August and decided she didn’t wanna pay me no more,” he said. “They’re using that as a strong-arm tactic so that I can renegotiate the contract. They’re holding the money, and they haven’t paid me since August. She done over 15 shows. Y’all do the math. She gets $100,000 a show. She owe me, and I haven’t recouped almost $2 million that we spent on her, building her up so that Roc Nation would wanna come [around]. Where was Roc Nation at when we was grinding and riding around on them backstreets? Roc Nation was nowhere to be found.
“Soon as we spent our money, blow it up, now all of a sudden, these strangers and people you just met — they introduce you to Beyoncé and now we the devil? We were just the angels sent from the sky. Now, we’re the devil just because Jay-Z saved you. You’re so fake.”
VIBE will provide updates to this story as they develop.
