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Megan Thee Stallion label hits back in legal dispute over whether Something For Thee Hotties was actually an album

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 22 March 2022

Megan Thee Stallion’s label 1501 Certified Entertainment has formally responded to the rapper’s most recent lawsuit over whether or not her album ‘Something For Thee Hotties’ was in fact an album. It was not, 1501 argues in its new legal filing, while also taking issue with how an earlier legal battle was concluded.

The rapper, real name Megan Pete, has spent quite a lot of the last two years griping over the 2018 contract she signed with 1501 – an independent label owned by former baseball player Carl Crawford – which gave the company an interest in her recordings, publishing, merchandise and live activity.

An earlier legal battle centred on various issues Pete raised about that 2018 contract, which she and her lawyers argued was entirely “one sided” in the label’s favour and didn’t follow “industry standards”. More specifically, there was a dispute over allegations that 1501 was stopping the rapper from releasing an EP and later a BTS collaboration. As Pete’s lawsuit went through the motions the court hearing the case issued injunctions ordering that the label allow the EP and the BTS collab to be released.

Although the EP was released in 2020 and the BTS tie up last year, that initial lawsuit was only dismissed earlier this year. Just in time for Pete to file a new lawsuit. While the rapper had seemingly renegotiated her original deal with 1501, it still had an option to release additional recordings. And in October last year it confirmed to Pete that it was taking up a ‘second option period’ which required her to provide another album for it to release.

Shortly after that came ‘Something For Thee Hotties’, a new record that gathered together some freestyles Pete had performed online and some other recordings from her archive. On Instagram she described that record as “my gift to my hotties – freestyles y’all been asking for plus a few unreleased songs from my archives to hold y’all over for the rest of the year”.

Legally speaking, Pete reckons that ‘Something For Thee Hotties’ constitutes the album she is obliged to deliver under the second option period of her 1501 deal, arguing that the only requirement in that deal is that an album must be 45 minutes long, which that record is, just about. However, 1501 counters that that record does not qualify as the album Pete is obliged to deliver. Hence the second lawsuit, in which Pete is seeking court confirmation that she has met her obligations under the second option period of her record deal.

Pete’s lawsuit filed last month stated: “Contrary to 1501’s position, ‘Something For Thee Hotties’ clearly meets the definition of ‘album’ under the recording agreement because it is not less than 45 minutes in length. 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”.

But, unsurprisingly, in its new legal filing 1501 does not concur. For starters, it reckons, ‘Something For Thee Hotties’ only actually includes 29 minutes of new recordings featuring Pete.

Referring to the rapper as ‘MTS’, it describes the record thus: “‘Something For Thee Hotties’ is made up of 21 recordings and includes spoken interlude recordings on which MTS does not appear as well as several previously-released recordings. It was not original material and included freestyles available on YouTube and archival material from as far back as 2019. The result is that the total duration of new recordings featuring MTS is only 29 minutes long”.

Plus, it goes on, “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. MTS also knows that these provisions are common and that they appear in most record contracts for good reason. And MTS’s lawyers know that these requirements have been upheld in other lawsuits in the past”.

“MTS never sought 1501’s approval for ‘Something For Thee Hotties'”, it adds. “Indeed, 1501 only learned of the release hours before it came out. By letter dated 5 Jan 2022, 1501 advised MTS’s lawyers that the most recent release is not an ‘album’ under her contracts. MTS’s lawyers did not respond until 24 Jan 2022. 1501 replied three days later”.

“MTS filed her second lawsuit without notice or discussion on 18 Feb 2022”, it continues. “MTS’s new lawsuit is groundless because, as she knows, ‘Something For Thee Hotties’ does not meet the requirements of an ‘album’ under the three contracts that she has signed with 1501″.

In addition to the core dispute over the status of ‘Something For The Hotties’, 1501 also has some remaining gripes from the rapper’s first lawsuit. It argues that – although Pete made “outrageous claims that she never was able to prove” in her first legal action – the label nevertheless instigated settlement talks and agreed to amend her record contract.

A settlement deal was reached with both sides also agreeing to file the terms of that settlement with the court while requesting dismissal of the rapper’s lawsuit. However, 1501 claims, Pete’s side never made those filings with the court. So it filed a motion seeking to enforce the settlement agreement, but before the court could consider that motion the rapper dismissed her litigation.

With all that in mind, not only does 1501 want the court to declare that “‘Something For Thee Hotties’ plainly does not meet the requirements for an ‘album’ that satisfies MTS’s recording commitment”, but it also accuses Pete of “repeatedly breaching her contracts” and therefore “seeks to recover money damages based on those breaches, as well as its attorneys’ fees and costs”.

We await Pete’s response.