Houston emcee Megan Thee Stallion has finally settled her lawsuit with former label 1501 Certified Entertainment following a three-year dispute that saw the rapper sue the record company for preventing her from releasing music.
The lawsuit was filed in 2020 after the rapper (real name Megan Pete) realised that she had been exploited and forced into signing a contract that would hinder her growth as a career artist.
The label, which is also home to female lyricist Erica Banks and D-Raww, is a Houston-based independent label with whom Pete signed before she exploded into the mainstream in 2018.
The label, which is run by T. Farris and owned by former baseball player Carl Crawford, released Pete’s first EP, Tina Snow and her 2019 mixtape Fever. However, when the Houston artist attempted to release her first album, she announced to fans that it would be delayed as she tried to renegotiate her deal with the label.
As problems persisted, Pete took the label to court. The case has now been settled, and Megan and 1501 “mutually reached a confidential settlement to resolve their legal differences”. In a public statement, Carl Crawford announced that everyone at the company “wishes Megan the very best in her life and career.”
In 2020, Pete admitted on an Instagram Live that she “didn’t really know what was in [her] contract” when she first signed it, disclosing, “I was young. I think I was like 20, and I ain’t know everything that was in my contract.”
Since the settlement, Pete has been suggesting to fans that she plans to stay independent for a while until she finds a suitable label and proclaimed, “I have no label right now, and we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pocket so the budget is coming from me. It’s really just me until we sign to a new label.”