Megan Thee Stallion surprised fans with the announcement of her sophomore album Traumazine. The GRAMMY award-winning Rapstar took to social media on Thursday to announce Traumazine will be hitting streaming platforms today via 1501 Certified Ent/ 300 Ent.
She released a cover art and a tracklist that includes features from Pooh Shiesty, Latto, Jhené Aiko, and more. She also shared a teaser trailer for the album which shows her attending a funeral and placing a rose on top of a casket.
Today, after 4 EPs, Fever, Make It Hot, Tina Snow and Suga and her 2 LPs, Good News and Something For Thee Hotties, the 27 year-old rapper, entrepreneur and philanthropist, unleashes her deepest thoughts and touches on her journey of self-actualization and dealing with trauma.
Hotties I opened up to yall on this album so if you’re comfortable, how bout we have a conversation abt some things you might be going through or just want to vent about that you’ve been through that may help someone elseuse #TRAUMAZINE
The 18-track LP Traumazine follows Thee Stallion’s 2022 Billboard Music Awards “Top Rap Female Artist” win, her second consecutive victory. Boasting features from the hottest names in Hip Hop and R&B including, Future, Pooh Shiesty, Latto, Key Glock, Jhené Aiko, Rico Nasty, and Lucky Daye, as well as Houston heavyweights such as Sauce Walka, Big Pokey & Lil Keke, Traumazine is on par to keep the hot girl coach’s winning tradition.
Take a listen to the latest effort from Megan Thee Stallion, Traumazine below.
A Detroit rap duo is accusing Megan Thee Stallion of copyright infringement, claiming that a song from her 2020 debut Good News copies major elements of their own 2012, including its chorus, tempo, and tune. According to Complex, which acquired the court documents after rumors sprang up about the lawsuit on gossip blogs earlier this week, the lawsuit was filed by Duawn Payne and Harrell James, who go by Go Hard Major and H-Matic, and compares Megan’s track “Go Crazy” with their own song “Go Crazy.”
The lawsuit also names Big Sean, a featured artist on “Go Crazy,” as well as 1501 Certified Entertainment, 300 Entertainment, and Universal Music Publishing. Oddly enough, though, Complex notes that 2 Chainz, who also features on the song, is not named. Here’s the original “Go Crazy,” which you can compare to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Go Crazy” below:
Go Hard Major and H-Matic say they performed their song at multiple nightclubs in Detroit, Big Sean’s hometown, that he would have frequented. They also claim they’ve sold “thousands” of physical copies of the track on CD, creating plenty of opportunities for Sean to access the track. They’re seeking unspecified damages for copyright infringement and say they’ve sent cease and desist letters to both Megan and Sean.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Ever since making her debut as part of the growing roster of 1501 Certified Entertainment, Dallas rapper Erica Banks has contended with comparisons to her predecessor as the label’s crown jewel, Megan Thee Stallion. The parallels are obvious; the two women are Texas natives who pride themselves on their lyricism and flow, and both embrace an unapologetic approach to their sexual subject matter.
Tabbed by some fans as a replacement for Meg, signed specifically to spite and undermine Thee Stallion’s successful run in the face of her feud with her erstwhile benefactors, Erica Banks was initially mocked when footage of early performances circulated online. As her viral breakout “Buss It” became popular on TikTok, increasing her exposure to a wider audience, the comparisons likewise became more prominent, even prompting speculation that the two women had beef of their own.
But the thing that gets lost in all of this is that Erica Banks is an accomplished, established rapper in her own right, with four mixtapes to her name already – three self-released — before 1501 ever entered the picture. And now, her debut studio album, Diary Of The Flow Queen, has arrived to further differentiate her from her esteemed colleague and establish her as an artist worth giving attention to on her own merits.
Within moments of pressing play, it becomes apparent that the superficial similarities between Erica and Meg remain on the surface level. While the latter’s punchy delivery can occasionally subsume her Texas drawl, Banks’ accent determines her tempo, slowing her flow down even on the more uptempo tracks. Since she’s still in the early stages of her career – think Meg on the Tina Snow and Fever EPs – Banks has yet to experiment with pop-leaning musical styles, sticking to bass-forward, trunk-thumping Texas beats for the majority of the album.
This works to her advantage on tracks like “Slim Waist” and “Nasty” with Bankroll Freddie, on which she also shows that she has multiple vocal tones to match the mood of the song. While her voice is usually a low-register growl, she can pitch up an octave or two for more sultry come-ons when she isn’t straight-up bragging about her sexual prowess. On the penultimate song, “Work,” she even does some singing – an area where her ostensible rival has stumbled in the past – weaving between her usual rhythmic attack and the melodic flow that dominates rap playlists these days.
There are also few features; the aforementioned Bankroll Freddie, fellow Texan BeatKing, and rising New York rapper DreamDoll (who both appear on “Toot That“) are the only voices other than Erica’s on the album. This allows the DeSoto native to show that she’s capable of holding her own for a full project without growing stale – a testament to the above-mentioned malleability of her voice. Diary Of The Flow Queen may not meander far afield of the same lyrical territory that has been explored by many of the other women in hip-hop taking over the charts lately, but as Cardi B once explained, that’s what the fans want.
More importantly, the album establishes that Erica Banks has her own branch of that lineage, with all the potential to reach the same heights of notoriety as peers like Cardi B, Latto, Saweetie, and yes, even Megan Thee Stallion. She could very well be just one hit away; hopefully, 1501 learned its lesson and extended a contract that will keep their latest star happier than their last.
Diary Of The Flow Queen is out now on 1501 Certified and 300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Erica Banks is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The tension between Megan Thee Stallion and Carl Crawford’s 1501 Certified Entertainment flared up last month when the rapper sued the label over the classification of her latest project, Something For Thee Hotties. While Megan contends that she was told the release would count as an album off of her four-album contract with 1501, it appears 1501 instead classified it as a mixtape — as the label also did with Fever and Suga. Now, the label has issued a countersuit, according to Billboard, arguing that the project only constituted 29 minutes of new material.
The label’s attorney, Steven M. Zager, wrote, “MTS knows that each ‘album’ must include at least twelve new master recordings of her studio performances of previously-unreleased musical compositions. She also knows that 1501 gets to approve the musical compositions to be included on each album. And MTS knows that none of that happened here.” The countersuit blames Roc Nation, Megan’s management company, for “trying to persuade its management clients to leave their record labels.”
Megan was unhappy about the claims, expressing her frustration on Twitter. “First the man over my label said I don’t make him any money,” she wrote. “Now he counter suing trying to keep me on his label because he wants to make more money lol if I ain’t making you no money why not just drop me?”
First the man over my label said I don’t make him any money … now he counter suing trying to keep me on his label because he wants to make more money lol if I ain’t making you no money why not just drop me?
She explained, “My lawyers asked him for an expense report(money 1501 supposedly has spent on ME)… why this grown ass man put his jewelry and chains on there… lord free me from this joke ass label… Carl I don’t wanna be signed to yo pill popping ass! You talking abt I ain’t paid for a show and you sound slow. Im the artist I don’t pay you directly maybe fight with THE MAN YOU SIGNED TO AND YOU MIGHT SEE SOME MONEY YOU FUCKING POWDER HEAD! You hiding behind JPRINCE. Carl you got a wholeeee contact with 300 and talking shit to me like I got yo fucking money! You are ATTACKING ME ..why? Bc you want to be FAMOUS NOT RICH. Ask KEVIN LILES WHERE YO MONEY AT STUPID.”
My lawyers asked him for an expense report(money 1501 supposedly has spent on ME)… why this grown ass man put his jewelry and chains on there… lord free me from this joke ass label
Carl I don’t wanna be signed to yo pill popping ass! You talking abt I ain’t paid for a show and you sound slow. Im the artist I don’t pay you directly maybe fight with THE MAN YOU SIGNED TO AND YOU MIGHT SEE SOME MONEY YOU FUCKING POWDER HEAD! You hiding behind JPRINCE
Carl you got a wholeeee contact with 300 and talking shit to me like I got yo fucking money! You are ATTACKING ME ..why? Bc you want to be FAMOUS NOT RICH. Ask KEVIN LILES WHERE YO MONEY AT STUPID
Megan also insinuated that she’d been in contact with 1501 artist Erica Banks, who some fans tried to pit against her, calling the “Buss It” rapper a “replacement” for Meg. Instead, Thee Stallion suggested that even Banks is fed up with 1501, writing, “I choose not to say nothing back abt court and address shit online but im getting tired of being painted the BAD GUY 2/47 the last girl on 1501 mad at this man too !”
I choose not to say nothing back abt court and address shit online but im getting tired of being painted the BAD GUY 2/47 the last girl on 1501 mad at this man too !
The battle between Megan Thee Stallion and her label, Carl Crawford’s 1501 Certified Entertainment, had simmered down over the past two years after a judge granted the rapper an order allowing her to release music again, but today, hostilities flared up again as Megan sued the label over the classification of her most recent project. Complex reports Megan is upset that Something For Thee Hotties wasn’t counted as an “album” according to the terms of her contract, despite being 21 tracks and over 45 minutes long.
The point of contention here is that Meg’s contract with 1501 is for four albums and that despite releasing Tina Snow, Fever, Suga, Good News, and Something For Thee Hotties in the four-odd years since she signed the contract, only Good News was counted against that total. Obviously, she wants out of her original contract, and her popularity is such that she may never actually need to sign another one. But having her under contract is (ostensibly) a good thing for 1501, which gets a percentage of all her royalties, whether they come from “albums” or “mixtapes.”
Unfortunately, 1501 is operating from a well-established playbook — it’s actually common practice for labels to count projects as mixtapes to keep artists under contract for longer, a problematic legacy of hip-hop’s penchant for putting out unauthorized, unofficial, or surprise releases. However, by the strictest terms, anything 45 minutes or more should technically count as an album as they’ve been defined for the past 80 years or so (EPs are 22 minutes, leaving a lot of wiggle room between the two designations). That’s Meg’s argument here; her lawyers write in the suit, ” There are no other parameters or requirements under the contract for what can be deemed an ‘Album’ other than total run time of the album. As such, Something for Thee Hotties satisfies her ‘Minimum Recording Commitment’ for the second option period of the agreement.”
Incidentally, Megan showed her teeth earlier today after Crawford posted a headline boasting of a victory in their previously existing case; however, it seemed he had misunderstood which of the cases against him she’d dropped. The suit regarding fair royalty splits is still ongoing and now, Megan’s added another one to the collection in the hopes of no longer dealing with Crawford again.
Ever since early 2020, Megan Thee Stallion and her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, have been embroiled in a contrast dispute over royalties that each believes the other owes. It’s a complex situation, but essentially, Megan would like to be paid more, while 1501’s founder Carl Crawford says that Megan and her management at Roc Nation are withholding his cut of the profits from live shows she did throughout her breakout year, 2019. The dispute has been contentious at times, and the latest development in the case has Thee Stallion going off on her quasi-boss.
After Megan filed a motion to dismiss part of her lawsuit, Crawford posted screenshots from celebrity gossip site AceShowbiz.com on his Instagram with the caption, “Only the real town can relate. Now tell em to run my bread dating all the way back from 2018.” However, the headline in question only referred to Megan’s suit for a restraining order against 1501, which was blocking her from releasing music. However, since both 1501 and 300, the distributor for Megan’s music, cleared her to release Good News and Something For The Hotties, she no longer needed the court’s intervention. Posting to her own Instagram, she explained as much while characterizing Crawford as a bully — and kind of an ignorant one, too.
“This dude never know wtf is going on with his business,” she wrote. “he 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!!! I AINT NEVER BEEN PAID FROM 1501 IN MY LIFE ! I make money bc im MEGAN THEE STALLION ! Grown ass men wanna bully me and eat off my name and paint me out as a villain online bc they know these bandwagon ass haters gone eat that shit up ! I dont even be saying shit to you lame ass n****s bc the TRUTH always comes out.”
: thee megtan enthusiast is making bad decisions (@nanamindi) August 9, 2022
use #TRAUMAZINE
town can relate. Now tell em to run my bread dating all the way back from 2018.” However, the headline in question only referred to Megan’s