Meek and Rowdy are in the same boat.
When Meek Mill first exposed his issues with his label in October, many fans took notice, and people like Keyshia Cole supported Meek in his efforts to fight back. He tweeted that he needed to lawyer up because his label left him in the dark about payments: “I haven’t get paid from music and I don’t know how much money labels make off me. I need lawyers asap!!!”
He continued by threatening to make his deal public to pressure his label: “Ask the record label? how much have you spent on me as a artist? then you ask how much have you made off me as a artist? i’m about to make my record deal public by monday just to let the world see what these people on!!!””
Some fans speculated this was directed at Maybach Music Group and Rick Ross, who Meek has been signed to since he blew up in the early 2010s. However, recently Rick Ross dispelled those rumors, directing the blame at Meek’s other record deal with Atlantic Records: “I’ma be honest, when Meek taking a jab at anybody, the only way I can assume is he’s doing that at Atlantic Records. All we ever did was get paper and it’s real easy to say a n***a name… Is he signed to Maybach Music? Yes, he is. But he’s also a boss and real bosses give other bosses opportunities to become bigger bosses.”
Now, good friend and New York icon Rowdy Rebel has run into the same issues as Meek, posting to Instagram this week that he will not release music until his label pays him for the music he released in 2014 before his 7-year prison stay: “I’m not dropping no more music until Epic Records pay me. I haven’t received not one check for all the music I put out since 2014. I been patient but enough is enough.”
Meek caught wind of Rowdy’s struggles, and offered him insight on how to combat this. He simply told him mixtapes are the way to go, as he can get paid outside of his studio album deal with his label: “Drop mixtapes!!!!”
Do you think this is sound advice?