#1501

Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince decided to address the drama between 1501 Certified Entertainment and Megan Thee Stallion. Prince’s friend, Carl Crawford is the CEO of 1501. It seems that Prince has grown tired of the accusations made against him by Megan.

On Tuesday night, J. Prince took to Instagram and posted a photo of himself with Crawford. In the caption, he defended 1501 and accused Megan Thee Stallion and her team at Roc Nation of not telling the whole truth.

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A post shared by J Prince (@jprincerespect)

“For years we have stood by quietly as MTS and her mgmt at Roc Nation has lied about Carl Crawford and his 1501 label,” Prince wrote. “The truth is that Carl discovered, developed and fully financed MTS early in her career which led to a life changing distribution agreement for her with 300 Entertainment.”

Prince also went on to allege that 1501 agreed to give Megan 40% of its profits. That number is more than the customary royalty new artists typically receive from their labels.

“Any attempt by MTS or RN to portray a contract that provides a new unknown artist with 40% of the label’s PROFITS as unconscionable or unfair is blatantly false and contrary to the customs or norms in the music industry,” Prince continued.

Meanwhile, Megan asked a Texas judge on Monday to rule that her new album Traumazine satisfies her deal with 1501. Her lawsuit also demands $1 million in damages from 1501 for their supposed efforts to stall her career. Prince denied these claims as well.

1501 is still pursuing its own lawsuit against Megan Thee Stallion, claiming she owes them millions from her 2018 contract. The label also denies that Something For Thee Hotties qualifies as an album due to containing music which was already released.

Megan Thee Stallion fires back at 1501

Late Tuesday night, Megan responded to J. Prince’s accusations in a series of tweets. Using the hashtag #FreeTheStallion, she also claimed that she didn’t understand the wording of her initial contract when she signed.

She then accused 1501 of trying to take credit for her work away from herself and her late mother.

Im so over these grown ass men trying to take credit away from the work me and my mama put into the beginning of my career…me and my mom “developed” my career I was already known for free styling and I was already working on Tina snow before I got to 1501.

— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) August 24, 2022

If you wanna be REALLL I DEVELOPED 1501

— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) August 24, 2022

To top it off, Meg also claimed that Carl Crawford wasn’t exactly the most genuine friend to J. Prince.

They keep signing people and everyone got the same story … go find allll the girls and the guys that started over there with me and some of the girls after me… ask anybody in Houston how that man is fake ass Nigga talked so much shit abt jprince now that’s your bestie ok 😂🙄

— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) August 24, 2022

Written by Olan Bryant

Megan’s side of the story

“When I signed, I didn’t really know what was in my contract,” Meg said in an Instagram livestream. “I was young. I was like 20. I ain’t know everything that was in that contract. So when I got with Roc Nation, I got management-real management. I got real lawyers and they was like, ‘Did you know that this is in your contract?”

In spite of this, 1501’s CEO Carl Crawford dismissed the allegations at the time, saying, “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.”

Regardless, Megan was granted a restraining order against the label to prevent them from stopping any further release of new music. In August of 2021, Megan was also granted permission from a court to release her remix of BTS’ Butter after 1501 prevented her from doing so.

Though as time went on, Crawford became more optimistic that he and Megan could put their differences aside. In a December 2021 interview, he said, “Like really, things always went left. We still don’t have a real reason why things went left. Everything is cool with her, like I said we wish her the best. We’re just going to keep doing our thing, 1501.”

Megan Thee Stallion by Theo Wargo

A twist to the tale

The legal documents for the suit’s dismissal state, “Megan Pete hereby nonsuits all of the claims she has asserted in the above captioned lawsuit against 1501 Certified Entertainment, LLC, Carl Crawford and James Prince, without prejudice to the re-filing of the same.”

In response, Crawford reacted to the news on Tuesday with an Instagram post that included a caption saying, “Only the real [H] town can relate. Now tell ’em to run my bread dating all the way back from 2018.”

However, it seems the drama may not be over. Shortly after Crawford’s post, Megan had comments of her own in regards to the lawsuit’s status.

“This dude never know wtf is going on with his business,” she wrote. “The case that was dismissed against you was from when you wasn’t trying to let me drop music… you and 300 signed off and let me drop music so there is no case no more…we are most definitely STILL IN COURT and YOU STILL GETTING SUED BC YOU OWE ME MONEY!!!”

Megan has since deleted the post, but it seems the legal troubles may not be over just yet.

Written by Olan Bryant