Madlib is suing his former manager Eothen “Egon” Alapatt over mismanagement of his record store and their joint venture.
The suit, filed on October 31, 2024 on the fourth death anniversary of MF DOOM, accuses Egon of engaging in “rank self-dealing, concealing information from and repeatedly breaching his duties to Madlib,” as well as “persistent and pervasive mismanagement” and “abuse of his role” within the two entities and the producer’s “professional and business affairs.” Egon supposedly “improperly inserted” his record label Now-Again as the middleman between Madicine Show and its primary music distributor Ingrooves amongst other deals, allowing himself to take a fee from any income generated from the company’s recorded music which mostly consists of work produced or recorded by Madlib. He also allegedly failed and refused to allow an audit of the business between his and Madlib’s entities; assigned one lawyer (who was supposedly directed to not cooperate with Madlib’s newest legal team) and one accountant to represent him, Madlib and all of the companies named without any informed consent from the producer; and failed and refused to provide the full and complete books of Madicine Show and Rapp Cats.
In addition, a forensic accounting of the two entities commissioned by Madlib allegedly showed “several accounting irregularities” and “lack of any backup documentation for…payments to Egon” and Rapp Cats exec Jeffrey Carlson a.k.a. Jeff Jank during the period of 2018 to mid-2022. Madlib also accuses Egon of utilizing Madicine Show as a “furnishing entity” for the producer’s production work outside of the company, giving himself the opportunity to take half of Madlib’s royalties and advancements. Finally, Egon reportedly locked Madlib out of a number of “key music business platforms” such as Ingrooves, Apple Music, Bandcamp and YouTube, as well as his own Facebook account and the Instagram account of his Quasimoto character.
Madlib is now asking for a judicially supervised wind-up and dissolution of Madicine Show and Rappcats, payment for damages and a Court declaration confirming that none of the defendants owns or has any continuing right or interest in what was named in the suit.
Madlib supposedly kept Alapatt on as his manager even after the two departed Stones Throw Records in 2010 and instructed him to manage the “financial, legal, and business aspects” of Madicine Show and Rapp Cats; Madicine Show is a business entity created by Egon on behalf of the producer for his “professional career and the production, recording and distribution of his recorded music,” while Rapp Cats was meant to sell the producer’s merchandise and vinyl LP collections for record store events.
Egon is also currently in litigation against MF DOOM’s widow Jasmine Dumile, who has accused the late artist’s former business associate of stealing over two dozen of his notebooks which included lyrics his on Operation Doomsday (1999), Madvillainy (2004), and MM…FOOD (2004), as well as “other creative ideations.” The exec has admitted to having possession of the notebooks but has refused to return them and insisted on “donated to a university or government archive” or a “museum or other institution of [Alapatt’s] choosing.”
