Carl Crawford
(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
In a new Billboard interview, Crawford breaks down all of his thoughts on the allegations in the lawsuit filed by the Houston rapper.
Carl Crawford CEO of 1501 Certified Entertainment has spoken out about Megan Thee Stallion’s claims of being treated unfairly by the label.
READ: Megan Thee Stallion Sues Record Label, Announces New Music Will Be Dropping
Recently, the Houston rapper whose real name is Megan Pete took to Instagram to air out her grievances including that the company was blocking her from dropping new music. Tuesday evening, TMZ released a report pointing out that a judge granted a temporary restraining order against 1501 and Crawford. The TRO orders 1501 “to do nothing to prevent the release, distribution, and sale of Pete’s new records” and also forbids them from damaging her image on social media. Megan is also seeking to have her 360 recording contract voided.
In an interview with Billboard, Crawford clears the air on Megan’s allegations and denies each of her claims. “It’s a whole lie,” Crawford said. “Nothing is true that she said. 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.”
He alleges that after Pete signed to Roc Nation in September, she was no longer in touch with him. She also was no longer paying him or the label the money she owed. He believes it was a tactic to not pay 1501 for merchandise and live touring proceeds which were owed to him through the contract she’d previously signed. Crawford also said she was strong holding him as a means to renegotiate her four-album deal contract. At the moment, Megan also has another distribution deal with 300 Entertainment.
On his initial reaction to Megan calling him and 1501 Certified Entertainment out on social media:
“My initial reaction was, ‘Man, I can't believe this is serious.’ She just has so many holes in her story, and it's almost on some delusional type stuff. The bubble of Hollywood and her eight million followers has really clouded her head, because the stuff that she's saying is not true. It's a whole lie. Nothing is true that she said. 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. Now, she fell for the oldest trick in the industry: the conquer and divide theme.”
On the dark side of the entertainment industry:
Everybody in the industry knows this is what Jay-Z and Roc Nation do: They come in, the find the smallest things wrong with the problem -- because there weren't any problems before she left -- and then she says that I didn't want to negotiate? Ok, tell everybody your definition of negotiating. Your definition is, 'OK. I'm going to send Suge Knight's old lawyers to come in, and it's a stick-up...' Of course, I'm like, 'This isn't a negotiation. This is a robbery.'
On Roc Nation’s role in the entire debacle:
“At the end of the day, tell them what their real plan was. 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. We gave this girl a 60-40 split. Now go ask the artist about that. She got parts of her masters [the] first time. You think Jay-Z would have gave her part of her masters on her first deal with Roc Nation? F--k no. Then, she's getting $100,000 a show and she don't want to pay up. That's what the issue was about. She signed with Roc Nation in August and decided she didn't wanna pay me no more.”
On the last time he spoke with Megan and if he believes he can salvage their relationship:
“I don't know at this point, because it's so bad. I don't know what can happen. Right now, I'm just trying to make sure that fair is fair. I just want it to be fair. Nobody wanted to stop her music. I understand that, but she's ignored me since August. I haven't spoke to her since August, and this is what's going on. She hasn't made one payment since August. You owe me money that I recouped, and you owe me show money. You owe me d--n near $2 million. You d--n near in the hole for $2 million, and you want to just get up out of it because Roc Nation told you you could.”
Pete alleges she's only seen $15,000 from the label after raking up more than a billion streams and selling over 300,000 individual track downloads. This equates to an estimated amount of $7 million, according to a previous Billboard report.
Additionally, in the aforementioned feature, Crawford shares that Megan isn't being truthful about the amount of money she has received in the past. He states she is raking in $100,000 per show (without paying her label), received a $10, 000 advance when she signed to 1501 and also was given a check for $50,000 once she signed to 300 Entertainment.
Source: Billboard
