Ari Lennox apparently did not have a very good experience in the industry before she finally signed to Interscope Records through J. Cole‘s Dreamville imprint.
Talking to fans on Instagram Live on Tuesday (October 1), Ari shared that she thinks the first label she signed to was a scam and recalled how they held her under contract for years and prevented her from doing anything else.
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“The first label I signed to – I think it was a scam!” she began. “I don’t even think it was real because when I signed to Interscope, they literally disappeared! All them years I was stressing!”
She revealed she tried out for American Idol while she was signed to this apparent ghost label and was unable to take her ticket to Hollywood because she was under contract. She then met a producer who she thinks also scammed her, as he promised to get her out of her old deal – that she now is thinking didn’t even exist.
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“I wind up signing another contract with another person. […] We’re cool now, but he did scam me and I thought he was helping me get out of this other situation and now I just feel like no there was never a situation,” she continued.
“This guy I wound up giving a nice little check to in order to sign to Interscope. [But] the original original label – I never heard from them since. I feel like they figure there is no beating such a massive corporation like Interscope or Dreamville or something because like I don’t know where they are. I don’t know why they haven’t come for me.”
In other news, Ari Lennox recently revealed that she owes the IRS quite a bit of money – but at least she has a plan.
Talking to fans on Instagram Live last month, she joked that she’s about to do some wild things to make good on her debts.
“I’m just gonna tell y’all my business,” she said. “I need to pay this IRS. The strange things I’m finna do for change, just so I can just break even. I’m gonna go crazy and then we start anew. And then we start paying stuff off, and then we start saving and then we retire! That is the muthafucking goal!”
When a fan joked back that she should make an IRS “diss album,” Ari explained that they’ve been patient with her and have not garnished her wages, so she has no plans of making an enemy out of them.
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“Absolutely not,” Lennox replied. “They have been gentle with me and didn’t take anything of mine. So, I will not be starting a beef with them, we do not have no beef, I am paying them back. Okay? I am paying them and I’m finna be caught up.”
