Could Megan Thee Stallion’s industry issue be over? For years, the “Savage” rapper has been tied up in a legal battle with her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, and company head Carl Crawford. In past court documents, the Grammy Award-winning musician has accused the entity of sabotaging her past releases and hiding money. Now that Megan has officially returned from her hiatus, she’s shared a significant update with fans.
Yesterday (October 12), during an Instagram Live session, Megan revealed that she’s not signed to a label and explained why she’ll stay independent. The broadcast, which longtime producer Lil JuMade It hosted, gave fans hope that things were looking up.
“Hotties! The real hotties, not the notties. Kinda them, too. This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” said the recording artist.
She continued, “And we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf*cking Hot Girl Productions! The next sh*t y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”
Megan discussed the decision to step out on her own and what the future holds. “I’m so excited to be doing something for the first time independently since it was just me and my momma. So excited. It’s really just me this go around until we sign to a new label. But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself,” she remarked.
Watch the full clip below.
| Megan Thee Stallion gives more insight into her upcoming album; says she’s funding it herself while trying to get out of her previous deal.
“I have no label right now, we’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pocket.” pic.twitter.com/lLqd1cL8bA
From the critically acclaimed album Traumazine, Megan Thee Stallion has released the video for the single “UNGRATEFUL.” The new Collin Tilley-directed video features Key Glock.
The music video for “UNGRATEFUL” follows Megan’s last month’s release of the music video for “HER,” a song that honors powerful, independent women.
In addition to Key Glock, the Traumazine album features Dua Lipa, Jhene Aiko, Rico Nasty, Latto, Lucky Daye, Pooh Shiesty, Sauce Walka, Big Pokey and Lil Keke.
Still hot off the release of her sophomore album, Traumazine, Megan Thee Stallion has dropped the visual for one of the album’s standout tracks, “Ungrateful.”
In the Collin Tilley-directed video for the Key Glock-featuring track, Megan is seen getting out of bed and donning lingerie before she dresses for a funeral. She arrives at the ceremony dressed to the nines in a lovely black dress. As the deceased is being buried, she is then seen in a lavish white dress with a matching large hat.
Though it is unclear who the funeral is for, it’s likely one of the “fake-ass, snake-ass, backstabbin’, hatin’-ass, no money gettin’-ass b*tches,” about whom she raps on the song.
While Megan has coined iconic phrases like “hot girl summer,” by way of her alter egos, she shared in an interview with New York Magazine, that Traumazaine is pure, unfiltered Meg.
“My alter egos have been people that I had to be at those times to be like my armor, like my shield,” she said. “I had to be Hot Girl Meg at that time. I had to be Tina Snow at that time. I had to be Megan Thee Stallion at that time. I love this album because I feel like it’s just me talking. It’s just Megan. It’s not me having to be anybody else.”
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Megan Thee Stallion wants answers after her second studio album, Traumazine, was leaked early, and she’s demanded information from her label’s distributor to get them. According to Billboard, Meg’s lawyers filed documents in court today asking a judge to order Warner Music Group, the parent company of 300 Entertainment, which distributes Megan’s label 1501 Certified Entertainment, to hand over a list of anyone who was given early access to the album to determine who leaked it.
It’s likely that Megan wants the information to prove that the leak came from 1501 Certified itself due to her ongoing lawsuit against the label to be released from her contract. In the lawsuit, she previously accused 1501 of sabotaging the release while demanding $1 million in allegedly unpaid royalties. Her legal actions have led to a bitter war of words between herself and 1501’s founder Carl Crawford, with occasional dispatches from Houston rap royal J Prince. However, although today’s filing does not accuse WMG of the leak, it does leave open the possibility that the leak did not originate from 1501, in which case, due to the limited nature of the preview links that were shared, there could only be a few suspects — including Warner employees.
“Pete does not, at this time, accuse WMG of intentionally releasing her album, but does believe that receiving documents and communications from WMG related to Traumazine and its release should help discover who improperly leaked her artistic work,” Meg’s lawyers wrote. “In addition to documents and communications, Pete wishes to ascertain who all received access to Traumazine through WMG.”
In addition, she’s asked the court to also compel Cablevision and Datacamp, a pair of internet service providers, to give up the leakers’ IP information.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
During a recent interview with Ebro and Nadeska on Apple Music 1, Megan Thee Stallion, 27, discusses her newest album release ‘Traumazine’ juggling a crazy rap career and the loss of her mom. Megan’s mom, Holly Thomas, passed away in March 2019 from brain cancer. Thomas used to rap herself under the name “Holly-Wood” and helped steer her daughter’s early career. Sadly, Megan’s grandmother also passed away just weeks later. In the interview, she talks about the final piece of advice her mother gave her and how her mother’s death continues to affect her. “At this point in my life, I really realized that my mama was really driving the car for a long time,” she mused. “I didn’t even have to think about too many things when mama was with me. I feel like it is just recently that it’s clicking to me, like who can I ask anything to?” Admitting that she hates to put people in her business “When I’m going through something personal, I’m like, ‘I just got to pray,’ because I don’t even know who I can ask. Who can I ask about this situation? And who do I trust?” Through tears she then went on to say When I would do something good, my mamma, would say “good job, that was good we did that.” admitting that she feels that she shouldn’t be crying by now when talking about her mom but also jokes through the tears. “But I know my mama she would say get your sh*t together.” Megan, a college graduate, and 5-time Grammy-winning rapper announced her mom’s death in a since-deleted Instagram post, tearfully recalling the last conversation she had with her mom and how her words get her through. “She was just like, ‘Just because I’m sick, you and T Farris, y’all don’t stop. Y’all need to go to L.A. and still do your show.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I’m going to be back up here in a little bit.’ And then it was just over so quick and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, what do I do?’ She said, ‘Don’t stop,’ so then I just took that literally. And we’re here today,” she added.
During a recent interview with Ebro and Nadeska on Apple Music 1, Megan Thee Stallion, 27, discusses her newest album release ‘Traumazine’ juggling a crazy rap career and the loss of her mom. Megan’s mom, Holly Thomas, passed away in March 2019 from brain cancer. Thomas used to rap herself under the name “Holly-Wood” and helped steer her daughter’s early career. Sadly, Megan’s grandmother also passed away just weeks later. In the interview, she talks about the final piece of advice her mother gave her and how her mother’s death continues to affect her. “At this point in my life, I really realized that my mama was really driving the car for a long time,” she mused. “I didn’t even have to think about too many things when mama was with me. I feel like it is just recently that it’s clicking to me, like who can I ask anything to?” Admitting that she hates to put people in her business “When I’m going through something personal, I’m like, ‘I just got to pray,’ because I don’t even know who I can ask. Who can I ask about this situation? And who do I trust?” Through tears she then went on to say When I would do something good, my mamma, would say “good job, that was good we did that.” admitting that she feels that she shouldn’t be crying by now when talking about her mom but also jokes through the tears. “But I know my mama she would say get your sh*t together.” Megan, a college graduate, and 5-time Grammy-winning rapper announced her mom’s death in a since-deleted Instagram post, tearfully recalling the last conversation she had with her mom and how her words get her through. “She was just like, ‘Just because I’m sick, you and T Farris, y’all don’t stop. Y’all need to go to L.A. and still do your show.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I’m going to be back up here in a little bit.’ And then it was just over so quick and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, what do I do?’ She said, ‘Don’t stop,’ so then I just took that literally. And we’re here today,” she added.
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In the lead-up to her second album Traumazine, Megan Thee Stallion repeatedly noted that it had more emotionally-charged themes and greater vulnerability than her debut, Good News. In a June interview with Rolling Stone, she said, “I want to take you through so many different emotions. At first you was twerking, now you might be crying.”
She reiterated the sentiment in an August Q&A session on Twitter. “I wrote this album for myself,” she admitted. “I wanted to start writing in a journal but I said f*ck it I’ll put it in a song.” She also confessed that “saying certain things you’ve never said out loud before is hard.” Fans understandably presumed that this meant the Houston rapper would address the various public misfortunes that had befallen her since her Tina Snow EP rocketed her to stardom.
Traumazine delivers on Megan’s promises, but it doesn’t stray too far from her established formula. Production-wise, it runs the gamut from Thee Stallion’s preferred speaker knocking Texas trap to a very on-trend detour into Miami Bass and house, while lyrically, Megan returns to the rapid-fire freestyle form that first impressed her fans, peers, and early mentor Q-Tip. The newer, more confessional attitude peppers her hard-hitting, boastful verses with lines that hide the hurt behind defiant bluster.
On songs like “Not Nice,” Megan’s gift for storytelling comes to the fore. “I kept your bills paid. You were sick, I paid for surgery,” she reminds a disloyal acquaintance. “But I pray you boo-hoo, do me wrong, where they deserve to be.” The specificity of her examples lends weight to her jabs – for every verbal right cross, someone has crossed her. Meg’s also unafraid to drop the facade of the tough-girl rapper and bluntly state a long-standing issue. On “Anxiety,” she wishes she could “write a letter to Heaven” so she can “tell my mama that I shoulda been listenin’.” I just wan’ talk to somebody that get me,” she accepts.
But even with the more vulnerable material here, Meg shines brightest when she sticks to the brash, explicit material that defines breakout hits like “Big Ole Freak” and “WAP.” “Ms. Nasty,” which pairs a thumping bass kick with an ‘80s R&B melody, offers another worthwhile inclusion to this tradition, opening with the straightforward come-on “I want you to dog this cat out, whip it like a trap house / Stand up in that pussy, stomp the yard like a frat house.” “Pressurelicious” with Future and “Budgets” with Latto match this energy, the latter pairing working best. We need more songs with these two together.
Other guests include Rico Nasty, with whom Meg displays incredible chemistry on “Scary,” Key Glock, who gifts her a suitably spiteful verse on “Ungrateful,” and Pooh Shiesty, who makes fans feel his absence from the spotlight (he’s currently locked up on a gun charge, facing a eight-year sentence) on “Who Me.” There are also contributions from R&B singers Jhene Aiko and Lucky Daye, which have the unfortunate side effect of highlighting the weaknesses of Meg’s own singing voice. She’s at her best spitting bruising bars with her gruff Texas twang as she does alongside her Lone Star compatriots on “Southside Royalty Freestyle”; when she tries to croon her own choruses, the effect feels raw and unpolished — and not in a good way.
The pop swings are also hit-and-miss. While “Her” fits in among the Beyonce-inspired post-Renaissance wave of future ball favorites, “Sweetest Pie” with Dua Lipa sounds like Meg chasing the success of peers like Doja Cat. This misunderstands what listeners want from the two artists. Meg wins because of tracks like “Gift & Curse,” “Who Me,” and “Scary.” Give her a lush, groovy soul sample and an 808 to vent her frustrations over, you get the verses on “Flip Flop.” These are the kinds of songs at which Meg excels. The added emotional depth is a bonus, adding relatability to her aspirational boldness. This will be the formula for Meg’s future success.
Traumazine is out now on 1501 Certified/300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Following the weekend release of her new album Traumazine, Megan Thee Stallion returns with the video for “Her.”
The new video supports the song’s message of embracing who they are as the dance-adjacent single is matched with a black and white visual where the Hot Girl nails choreography.
Thee Stallion’s Traumazine was released on August 12 and boasts contributions from some of the biggest names in music, including Dua Lipa, Key Glock, Jhené Aiko, Rico Nasty, Latto, Lucky Daye, Pooh Shiesty, as well as Houston’s mainstays Sauce Walka, Big Pokey, and Lil Keke.
Megan Thee Stallion is unapologetic in her approach to music and certainly isn’t shy when it comes to her lyrics. But her new album, Traumazine, finds her exploring some new emotional territory, addressing frayed relationships, broken trust, and grief over the deaths of her parents.
In a new interview with Ebro Darden and Nadeska Alexis of Apple Music, Megan explained how the album allowed her to write about new subjects she never did before.
“Usually when I write songs… I could be sad and I’ll write a song like ‘Body,’” she elaborated. “Or I could be pissed off and I’ll write a song like ‘Freak Nasty.’ I don’t write songs about how I feel, I write songs about how I want to feel. So I feel like, on this album, it’s probably the first time I figured out how to talk about what I want to say… express myself a little bit more. So that’s just how I’ve been living life. And I feel like it’s been so easy for people to tell my story for me, speak on my behalf because I’m a nonchalant person, I feel like. And people be talking about me and I be like, okay. But like I see now that it can get out of control so I feel like I wanted to just take control of my narrative, take control of my own story. Tell it my way, tell it from me.”
You can watch Megan’s interview with Apple Music above.
Traumazine is out now on 1501 Certified Entertainment/300 Entertainment.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Megan Thee Stallion’s new album Traumazine is out now and with it, her latest single offering from it, “Her.” An uptempo track that borrows heavily from the Miami bass scene and fits right in with the current dance wave sweeping hip-hop, “Her” is also in line with Meg’s usual boastful perspective, as she upholds her own greatness while telling ” hater kiss both cheeks, ciao, bella.” In the new video for the single, Meg struts confidently in designer, turning herself into a work of art.
“Her” was one of two songs Megan performed in Central Park for Friday’s episode of Good Morning America. She also performed Traumazine lead single “Pressurelicious” sans the Future feature. Other songs she’s previously released from the album include the defiant “Plan B” and the bouncy “Sweetest Pie”; both are included on the final release. In addition to featuring on GMA for the album’s surprise rollout, she appeared on The Tonight Show to co-host alongside Jimmy Fallon, revealing that she cut the album’s 18 songs down from 50 and teasing Stranger Things actor Natalia Dyer over her character Nancy Wheeler’s fickle nature.
Watch Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her” video above.
Traumazine is out now via 1501 Certified/300 Entertainment. Get it here.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
| Megan Thee Stallion gives more insight into her upcoming album; says she’s funding it herself while trying to get out of her previous deal.
(@itsKenBarbie) October 13, 2023
