Source: Courtesy of 300 Entertainment
You hate to see it — your favorite artist weighed down and unable to release new music because of a bad contract. Unfortunately, it happens more often than many people realize. Meg, who had an incredible 2019 after dropping her single “Big Ole Freak” and following that up with her critically acclaimed mixtape Fever, refuses to become the music industry’s latest casualty. This past week, the rising superstar aired her contract grievances out in a lawsuit against Carl Crawford, a former pro baseball player and the owner of indie record label 1501 Certified Entertainment.
In the suit, the rapper makes several claims, according to TMZ: that she and 1501 share a 60-40 split but that all payments to engineers and featured artists come out of her share; that Crawford has been blocking her from releasing new music; that all money she is paid from performing is to be paid directly to 1501 to be distributed later; that accounting of said performance payments have been “purposely and deceptively vague;” that Crawford uses his relationship with Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince to intimidate industry folk; and, that she only received a $10,000 advance.
Thankfully, a judge granted Meg a temporary restraining order which blocks 1501 from attacking her via social media and allows Meg to release music in the meantime. Carl Crawford, of course, responded with a few accusations of his own however. He told Billboard, in part, that Roc Nation, whom Meg signed to in September 2019, is trying to strong arm him out their deal, hasn’t paid him since August, and that her contract is great “for a first-timer.” J. Prince echoed similar sentiments.
Both also said Meg’s late mom had a hand in writing her contract. Crawford tells Billboard:
“They want to make it look like I’m greedy? No, they’re trying to keep me out of everything. She keeps saying, ‘Them n—as over there negotiated my contract.’ Them n—as are sitting right next to her. T. Farris is the one. Her mom did the contract. I’m new to the business. I let this guy T. Farris run my whole business, because I knew absolutely nothing about it. Zero. So he wrote your contract up. I didn’t do it. They want to make a big deal about it. We signed a deal. Honor your contract and let’s just keep doing business how we been doing and everything is fine. Nobody is trying to rob you.” Read his full response here.
In the meantime, Meg’s highly-anticipated EP Suga has, in fact, been released, in addition to the video for Meg’s Tupac-inspired single “B.I.T.C.H.” In the midst of this battle with her label, the hard-hitting song takes on a deeper meaning.
“Why you wanna play with me? You know I’m undefeated/ A real hot girl know how to keep a n*gga heated/You say you want respect? Well treat me how you wanna be treated/You told me to keep it real but you don’t practice what you preachin’,” Meg raps, adding in the next verse “I got my mind on gettin’ paid, we ain’t spoke in some days/He prolly thinkin’ I’m in pain, but I’m really on game/Ain’t no n*gga finna stop me, independent, I got me/All the shit that I be needin’, can’t depend on a ‘prolly.'”
Meg has since spoken up for herself once again, writing on Instagram that she will not allow two men to bully her, while laying out the facts about her contract. See below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9XKm8jFQQl
Without further ado… “B.I.T.C.H.”
