Los Angeles, CA – Vice President A&R at Atlantic Records Yung Berg, who has rebranded himself as producer Hitmaka, doesn’t think Megan Thee Stallion should be making such a fuss about her record contract.
TMZ caught up with Berg at the Los Angeles International Airport on Monday (March 2) and asked him about Meg’s situation with 1501 Certified Entertainment.
“You just got to make sure your legal team is right when you enter these deals and know you’re doing big business,” he said. “A lot artists get into situations where they end up signing contracts and things that nature without really thoroughly going through the paperwork or whatever. For Meg’s situation, I hope everything works out for them. I got love for both parties.”
Ultimately, Berg explained being young is no excuse.
“There’s no such thing as bad deals when you actually sign the paperwork yourself,” he said. “You just gotta be well educated, no matter how young you are ’cause this game ain’t got no love for nobody. You see my journey. One minute you up, next thing you down. You know, it’s transitions through everything.”
“She already got a good team. She’s got good things going for her. Shout out to Roc Nation. Shout out to all them. I think she’s gonna make it through. They’ll figure it out. They’ll negotiate. It will work out for the best. I believe her people want to put out music. That’s how they all going to make music together. Without no music, it ain’t no money.”
Meg revealed her struggles with 1501 over the weekend, accusing the imprint holding her music hostage because she asked to renegotiate her contract. In a video she shared on Instagram Live, the Texas-bred rapper cited youth as the reason she was in this mess.
“When I signed, I didn’t really know what was in my contract,” she said. “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?’
“I’m thinking in my head oh well, everybody cool. We all family, it’s cool, it’s nice. Lemme just ask them niggas to renegotiate my contract. Soon as I said I wanna renegotiate my contract, everything went left. It just all went bad.”
Megan Thee Stallion says that 1501 isn’t letting her drop new music due to her requesting to renegotiate her contract. pic.twitter.com/4Uz5vXwmD0
— Ronald Isley (@yoyotrav) March 1, 2020
Although Meg is unhappy with her current contract, she insisted she’s not mad at 1501. Nonetheless, she reportedly sued the label on Monday (March 2) and was granted a temporary restraining order that will allow her to release music on Friday (March 6).
The suit also revealed details surrounding Meg’s contract and suggested Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince was an intimidator. Label head Carl Crawford, who ten works with Prince, allegedly pressured a producer to provide beats by dropping Prince’s name.
“Prince is notorious in the industry for strong-armed intimidation tactics,” the suit states. “And the comment was taken as a physical threat harm.”
Megan is suing Crawford and 1501 for $1 million in damages.
“We are very happy the Court granted our TRO and thrilled that the world should be able to now hear Megan’s new music on March 6,” Meg’s attorney Richard Busch told TMZ. “We will now proceed with the other claims set forth in the lawsuit].”