Breaking Down The Drama Between Megan Thee Stallion & Her Label

Houston hottie Megan Thee Stallion is trending all over social media today, but it’s not for the usual fun reasons like twerking or driving the boat. Unfortunately, the news surrounding her involve a legal dispute between the rapper and her record label 1501 Certified. In a lawsuit filed early this week, Megan alleged that the company had only given her 40% of her earnings and was blocking her attempts to release new music.

On Sunday, Megan hopped on Instagram live to give her nine million fans a disappointing update about her upcoming projects. After signing a new management deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, the rapper learned that the contract that she signed as a 20-year-old was too far-reaching and had too many limitations.

Meetings with Roc Nation revealed a number of shocking discoveries — including a clause in her contract that allowed the company to withhold 60% of her recording earnings — that led to her approaching the executives to request a renegotiation. The request was swiftly denied, and Megan also claims that it upset the label so much that they told her that she wouldn't be allowed to put out any music for the foreseeable future.

"When I signed, I didn't know what was in my contract," Megan told her fans. "I wasn't trying to leave the label or not give anybody money that they felt they were entitled to — I just wanted to renegotiate some shit."

When things went left with the negotiations, Megan decided to get the law involved. According to Billboard, the musician filed a lawsuit against 1501 in a Houston court. The lawsuit seeks to void her "unconscionable" 360 deal with the music label because of their history of not paying her what she's owed as well as threatening violence against her on social media. After hearing her case, Megan was granted a temporary restraining order that prevents her label from blocking any music she wants to drop soon.

Carl Crawford, head of 1501 Certified, isn't pleased with Megan's comments about his label and says that her allegations are "a whole lie."

"Nothing is true that she said," the CEO told Billboard. "Me being greedy and taking money from her, that's crazy. I never tried to take nothing from her. The only thing we ever did was give, give, give."

Crawford claims that the lawsuit is Megan's attempt to ditch 1501 and sign a new deal with Roc Nation as an artist. "Their real plan was to get you out of my contract so they can sign you to Roc Nation," he said.

"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?" Crawford continued. "We were just the angels sent from the sky. Now, we're the devil just because Jay-Z saved you. You're so fake."

"Where was Roc Nation at when we was grinding and riding around on them backstreets? Roc Nation was nowhere to be found."

Nonetheless, the hottie is pushing forward. On the heels of Monday's win in court, Megan announced on Twitter that her third project Suga Baby will be available for streaming across all platforms March 6. The song has nine songs and will feature Kehlani and Gunna.

"SUGA 3/6," she captioned the social media announcement. "#REALHOTGIRLSHIT."

There's no word on whether the new album will include the rollout of accompanying music videos — we're still waiting on that visual album for Fever that we were promised. But if the tension between Megan and her record label is any vindication, we should just be grateful that we're getting anything at all.

Refinery29 reached out to Roc Nation, 1051 Certified, and Megan for comment.