Nas‘ Mass Appeal imprint has come under fire after a high-ranking former employee accused the company of racial discrimination in a new lawsuit.
According to Hollywood Reporter, former head of development Melissa Cooper filed suit against the multimedia company in a Manhattan court on Tuesday (October 17). Cooper, a white woman, alleges she was the victim of “venomous and racist comments about ‘white folk’ and ‘crackers,’” and was eventually fired.
Among the claims in her filing, Cooper said some of the racist commentary happened while working on the Freaknik documentary that’s set to air on Hulu in 2024. Jenya Meggs, a Black woman who is the senior vice president for partnerships and content acquisition at Mass Appeal, was allegedly upset she wasn’t on the doc while Cooper was, and allegedly texted an executive producer it was “usual white folk behavior.”
Cooper alleges things eventually got hostile between her and Meggs and as a result, Cooper was removed from projects by Peter Bittenbender, the company’s chief executive – who is white.
“Bittenbender removed Cooper from a number of projects, including Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50 Live concert at Yankee Stadium planned for August 11, 2023,” the suit reads. “Cooper’s removal from this important project, along with others Meggs was staffed on, effectively stripped Cooper of her primary role at Mass Appeal.”
Eventually, Cooper was let go in June, and she alleges that no investigation into her claims of racial discrimination were conducted.
Nas is not specifically named as a defendant. HipHopDX has reached out to Mass Appeal for comment.
In more positive news, Nas’ shelved I Am… The Autobiography is finally getting an official release next month.
The long-lost album, which is the original double-disc version of the Queensbridge rapper’s 1999 LP, will be released commercially for the first time on vinyl on November 24 as part of Record Store Day’s 2023 Black Friday event.
The vinyl will include two unreleased tracks, as well as “many other rarities that have been on limited vinyl and 12-inch previously,” according to the product description.
Described as a “must-have for any Nas and die-hard Hip Hop head,” it will also boast special edition deluxe packaging. Only 4,100 copies will be made available.
I Am… The Autobiography is just one of several rap albums included in Record Store Day’s Black Friday lineup, with De La Soul‘s 3 Feet High and Rising, Three 6 Mafia‘s Da Unbreakables and Goodie Mob‘s Soul Food also being reissued on vinyl.
Adding to the Hip Hop 50 celebrations, Lil Wayne‘s 2023 greatest hits compilation I Am Music and Digital Underground‘s The Body-Hat Syndrome are coming to vinyl for the first time, while Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic is being rereleased on CD for its 30th anniversary.
A white person discriminated against a white woman? Okay, lol.
Not uncommon. Plenty of self hating whites out there. Just like there are self hating blacks. Self hatred is disgusting and sad. Everyone should want to preserve their roots. I’m not legit against race mixing, but I find it admirable when people purposely seek to continue their bloodlines.
It’s absurd. White people have access to everything in this country. There is no such thing as white discrimination when they literally hold every power lever in the country. Every Fortune 500 CEO in the country is white except like ten, lol. FOH with this victimhood shit.
It’s not victimhood shit. That would be complaining. But to act as if there isn’t any anti white sentiment is a joke. What do you think it is when one race is given the same qualifier as someone who scores better than them on tests, but they get in, and the person who did better doesn’t? Not racism? It is. Because apparently some people think they need to do so in order to succeed, thinking they themselves can’t compare when it comes to testing and grades.
Lol what? If Eminem wasn’t signed by Dre, he NEVER would’ve made it 1/50th as big as he made it, and him being white is why nobody wanted to sign him. Don’t gimme the BS that being white is why he was so popular now, seeing that RA the Rugged Man legit rapped beside biggie, and was extremely talented, yet has since faded away into oblivion.
Black ppl are super racist. How do I know? I’m black and hear anti white shit on the daily. U can pretend u don’t, but you’re either stupid or a liar… or u don’t know many ppl.
Who said there isn’t anti-white sentiment. I said acting like people who have no power in this country can discriminate against you is laughable. Mass Appeal is distributed by Universal. Guess who heads that shit? You guessed it, white people. Guess who headed Sony where Nas was at before that? You guessed it, a white guy. In this situation even, it’s a white guy that she’s complaining about at a label for a black artist, lol. Miss me with that fake ass reverse discrimination when we literally have no fucking power here. Because when white people say stuff like this, it makes you sound pretty damn stupid. I think 99% of black people wouldn’t care about anti-black sentiment as you call it as long as it didn’t affect real opportunities in our lives, but as we know, they are intertwined because white people just show us over and over again by keeping us out of any of the same positions white people get just by being white.
Jimmy Iovine, another white guy, runs Interscope, lol. Are you stupid or are you playing?
Who said some aren’t? Do they hold any real power in this country? Furthermore, that’s what we’re talking about, not some lame shit about white people and black people not liking each other. Again, there are literally six black CEOs at Fortune 500 countries in America. I guess that’s just a coincidence. America is white owned for white people by white people. As a white person, you can’t be discriminated against in this country when that’s the case. It’s a stupid premise and you’re dumb to believe it if you’re white and push this nonsense.
Dude, let it go. You’re arguing on a freaking hiphop site. There’s no point.
@ “truth” The fuck does Eminem and RA the Rugged Man have to do with all this lol? They weren’t mentioned in the article so you gave very weak off topic examples on your end to prove a point off race. NO BS was ever said when it came to Em being popular due to his skin color, it was all TRUTH. I think it’s time for you to accept that and GET OVER IT.
@Get a life,
You get a life fuck boy. Nobody asked you to respond to me. They addressed me, so I answered.
What kind of nonsense is this? 🤣🤣🤣
Everything you all are arguing aside — why isn’t anyone questioning the validity of the screenshots or the jilted lover story? You realize I can easily change names on my phone and a friend and I can text each other or even if I didn’t have a friend to assist, I could just get a burner phone and text myself just to set up someone who doesn’t like me at work and make them look bad for not liking me?