The first real-world lesson up-and-coming artists learn is often the most important. Always read the fine print in the contract. It’s something that artists, even non-artists, don’t take seriously. The common practice of not reading the fine print is what makes record labels and other companies so rich and powerful as they hold leverage over the young hungry minds. Down the road, it can save you a lot of money and time battling courts, lawyers, and companies. You never know when the past may come back to haunt you.
In hip hop, you might just find yourself on the other end of a social media war.
Hip hop artist Joyner Lucas launched into a Twitter beef with Karen Civil over what appears to be a scam. It was on Saturday when Lucas called out social media marketing specialist Karen Civil after he was scammed out of 60K during his early rap career. According to Joyner Lucas, he paid Civil $60,000 to help promote his music and marketing knowledge but ultimately never received anything in return from her.
“I was desperate for help and you knew that. After you were paid you went ghost and didn’t expect me to pop. Here I am,” he wrote in a tweet with an attached 2015 memo. “After you got the money paid upfront, you stopped answering my calls & every time I hit you, you answered the phone with an attitude like I was messing up your day. I sent you hella messages pleading with you to do your job because my back was against the wall. You took advantage.”
Lucas didn’t just stop there. The 33-year-old rapper’s pain was felt by the public as many up-and-coming artists deal with the same issues. Joyner Lucas tweeted about Karen Civil being his last-ditch effort to make it big back then.
“Smh I was broke and down on my last leg bruh,” he tweeted. “That 60k was literally my last effort to help me get on and you stole that from me when my son was born. The media protects you but wrong is wrong. At this time I had like 5k followers.”
Joyner Lucas’ tweets caught the eye of Black Twitter and began to spread like wildfire, even trending number one for a while. As Black Twitter does, the meme and jokes began to flood the platform. Others tried to gain the attention of Karen Civil on social media until she locked her posts from being commented on. Lucas’ tweets allowed the curtains to be pulled back and other claims against Karen Civil began to appear. Rapper Cam’ron also jumped in saying Karen Civil robbed his friend also of 60K back in the day.
“For those that don’t understand, I told people Karen Civil been robbing people, they said I was lying,” he wrote in an Instagram caption. “Now she just lost a court case to another female, now they say Karin is foul. When I said it…I was hating.. she also robbed Joyner Lucas for the same exact amount she did my guy @darealdukedagod 60k.. what a co-winky-dink.”
Eventually, Karen Civil responded to the claims of her robbing young clients with an exclusive statement with Baller Alert.
“It’s easy for him to make broad statements when you aren’t familiar with the backend of business especially Marketing,” she wrote. “Subcontractors were paid including Ravenel Agency, PR, and local Reps (mix show/radio). All parties contracted out on his behalf to execute were paid from the overall budget allotted. When he expressed his unhappiness about not getting VIP access to a NY NBA2K event because he arrived 2 ½ hours prior to the time he was given. Him not being able to reach me the following day during a scheduled personal vacation cause him to be irate.”
Civil’s statement continued: “His MGMT called me to rectify the situation after Joyner made his first tweet claims in which I responded we can happily move forward after a public apology was made since he used that same platform to lie about funds being taken from him. I recorded the call just for future circumstances like this. Unfortunately, 6 years later, he’s now utilizing a separate disagreement moment to amplify and create a social momentum around himself. He and I both had separate conversations with Charlamagne this morning where he passed on his phone number so we can have a discussion directly, but instead, he took to social. Nothing was stolen or taken from Joyner Lucas. Unfortunately, certain artists are under the impression they have 24/7 access to you. That’s not feasible or possible. All work done on his behalf was fulfilled. Subcontractor invoices were made & sent to MGMT Sean MacDonald of Dead Silence CEO. Which my team also kept records for.”
Joyner Lucas has since denied her claims, asking exactly what Civil and her team did for him. It seems things will not be claiming down with Joyner continuing his media blitz on Karen Civil. The social media marketing queen is also in a court battle with comedian Jessie Woo. Jessie claims Civil booked her with a fake company in order to gain her personal information. According to court documents and Jessie Woo on social media, the Superior Court of California sided with Woo as Civil is required to pay back Jessie Woo.the back-end the business
