Following the Megan ‘Thee Stallion’ Pete contract saga, 1501 label owner Carl Crawford has now responded to Pete’s claims. Crawford spoke to Billboard, and denied Pete’s claims.
Pete said in her Instagram Live video that things went left when she asked to renegotiate her contract after speaking with her lawyers under Roc Nation management. “I was like 20, and I didn’t know everything that was in that contract,” Pete explained. “So when I got with Roc Nation, I got management — real management — and real lawyers. They were like, ‘Do you know that this is in your contract?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, damn, that’s crazy — no, I didn’t know.’“
“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.” ”
Crawford says that things were fine, then Jay-Z and Roc Nation got involved, and are turning Pete against him and the contract. He continues to state Pete had a good deal, and it was a deal her late mother helped create.
“Let’s talk about your contract. It’s a great contract for a first-timer,” Crawford stated. “What contract gives parts of their masters and 40% royalties and all that kind of stuff? Ask Jay-Z to pull one of his artists’ first contracts, and let’s compare it to what Megan got… I guarantee they won’t ever show you that.”
Crawford insists nothing has changed on his end, and that his partner T. Farris (who he called a snake) influenced Pete to feel she’s been done wrong, and can do better business wise. He says he hasn’t spoken to Pete since August 2019, and that claim of little payment to her aren’t true at all.
“…I got all the receipts. We gave her a $10,000 advance when we first signed her and gave it to her mother. I don’t know what happened [with that]. 300 gave us a $200,000 check when we first signed. I gave her $50,000 of it. I didn’t have to give her that. That was mine at the time. And we never told her “no” a day in our lives. She just got on some real hating s–t or whatever and just didn’t want me around. How can I be mean to you? I never was around you. I didn’t do nothing. You barely saw me.”