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Megan Thee Stallion has been granted a restraining order against record label 1501 Entertainment and CEO Carl Crawford after she claimed the label was preventing her from releasing new music.
The rapper, real name, Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, says she took the “extraordinary step” of filing for the order because the label was ordering her distributor “not to release or distribute any of her new music”.
Megan says that new music is set to be released on Friday (March 6) and that she risks “irreparable injury” to her career if it does not arrive then.
A judge in Texas consequently ordered 1501 Entertainment “to do nothing to prevent the release, distribution, and sale of Pete’s new records,” and “to refrain from threatening or posting any threatening any retaliatory social media posts or threats against Pete”.
In her lawsuit, Megan is asking the judge to void her “unconscionable” recording contract with 1501 and says that she has only been paid $15,000 by the label, despite generating an estimated $7 million through track downloads and streams.
Megan @TheeStallion says her independent label 1501 Certified Entertainment won’t allow her to release new music after she attempted to renegotiate her contract.
Fans are now rallying behind the rapper with the #FREEMEG & #FREETHEESTALLION hashtags. pic.twitter.com/2Vzayi01MU
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 1, 2020
She previously told fans about how she had attempted to negotiate her deal with 1501 after signing to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation management.
“When I signed, I didn’t really know what was in my contract. I was young, I think I was, like, 20,” she said.
“So when I got with Roc Nation [an entertainment and management company founded by Jay-Z], I got management, real management.”
In the court papers, Megan said she has been “attacked and threatened” on social media ever since she first brought Roc Nation on board as her managers in September 2019, and claims that Crawford and 1501 Certified Entertainment are behind the attacks.
Specifically, she claims that they were behind the posting and distribution of her mug shot from an arrest some five years ago. Another 1501 producer allegedly threatened her with physical harm.
A hearing on whether to extend or terminate the contract is set for March 13 in Texas.
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