Megan Thee Stallion scored a small but significant victory in her battle with 1501 Certified Entertainment.
As Megan Thee Stallion and 1501 Certified Ent. head to court over her contractual obligations to the label, a judge has sided in Meg’s favor in the pre-trial. 1501 submitted a motion that asked the court not to consider her album Something For Thee Hotties as an album. However, the judge rejected the motion, which now allows the case to go to trial, per Rolling Stone.
The judge’s decision could lead to a bigger win for Meg down the line. If she succeeds during the trial, she’ll be released from 1501 Certified Ent. after fulfilling her contractual obligations.
The Carl Crawford-founded label submitted the motion in September on claims that Something For Thee Hotties wasn’t actually an album. His attorneys claimed that it didn’t meet legal criteria because of previously released material included on the album. They also stated Meg “failed to follow the proper approval procedures” before dropping the album.
In response, Meg claimed that she followed the guidelines for recording the album. She added that she deserved to make her case in front of a judge. Meg said she never released the freestyles and skits commercially on DSPs. She explained these songs don’t qualify as previously released material because they weren’t widely available.
Additionally, Megan stated that she revealed 300 Ent., the company she signed a distribution deal with in 2018, “kept 1501 apprised of developments” throughout the process and provided a copy of the project three days before its release. However, she noted that the company didn’t object to the album’s release until 2 months before it was due out.
The trial for her suit against 1501 Certified Ent. will come just after the conclusion of Tory Lanez’s criminal case in Los Angeles. Last week, a jury found the Canadian rapper guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. The court convicted him of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and faces 22 years in prison.