Q-Tip Remembers How Columbia And Def Jam Passed On Signing Megan Thee Stallion Despite His Co-Sign

Trying to get on in the hip-hop industry is always going to be a grind, but having a huge titan co-sign you is usually a huge help. Megan Thee Stallion might be one of the biggest artists in rap at the moment, but back when she was first trying to break into music, she apparently made a big impression on a legendary artist — none other than Q-Tip himself. In a clip from My Expert Opinion, the A Tribe Called Quest rapper explains that even with all of his own connections on the label side of things, both Columbia Records and Def Jam weren’t very interested in signing Megan when she was just an unknown rapper from Houston.

“Prior to this, my co-signs were Dilla, Nas, Redman […] so I’ve done it a few times,” he explains. “So this one in particular we’re sitting at the meeting [with Columbia] and it’s great. The dude comes back, ‘So we saw the views, yeah she’s good. We could just give her like… $30,000′ or some sh*t like that.’ Just say you don’t want to sign her, b! Don’t f*cking embarrass me. So I took her to Def Jam, but the same thing happened. And I was like I guess the co-sign isn’t working anymore. And she wound up being Megan Thee Stallion. The co-sign is kind of flimsy now, because they rely on data… I was like ‘Don’t you see who she is? She is going to be the wave!’”

Megan did post about the trip back when it happened, which backs up his story, in case there was any doubt:

Check out the relevant clips in the tweets below or the whole segment up top.