Talib Kweli has pointed the finger at the business partner of Madlib – Eothen ‘Egon’ Alapatt – claiming that he stole MF Doom’s rhyme book, along with several other allegations.
On Wednesday (August 31st), Kweli of Black Star posted on Instagram, calling out the boss of Now-Again Records for being a “culture vulture”, who is known to “take advantage of black artists and brag about it”.
Kweli wrote, beneath a series of screenshots showing an email Egon had sent, “One day the hiphop community is going to have to discuss what a lying, stealing, conniving culture vulture Eothen Apalatt AKA Egon from Now Again Records is. This is a non Black person who routinely takes advantage of Black artists and brags about it.”
He added, “We need to discuss how he uses the money he steals from iconic hiphop artists to buy up catalogs of unsuspecting older Black artists and then hordes the music so that he can decide what gets sampled and what doesn’t depending on how much money he personally makes off of music he doesn’t create.”
Reportedly Egon had also tried to take advantage of J Dilla’s mother and prevent the release of the most recent Black Star album, Fear of Time. Egon is also allegedly refusing to return the rhyme book to MF Doom’s family.
Kweli continued, “He plays no instruments, he writes no rhymes, he sings no songs, he makes no beats, but he brags to me about how he has a 3 million dollar house with money stashed in the walls during negotiations for the artists he used to work with.”
He added, “But today all I want to know is why Egon stole MF DOOM rhyme book and refuses to give it back to DOOM family, even after MF DOOM passed away. MF DOOM officiated this mans wedding FOR FREE, but then later stopped rocking with him because of his devil ways. Someone tag nowagain and asking Egon why he stole MF DOOM rhyme book, he got me blocked. The era of the culture vulture is OVER.”
