Madlib, the legendary hip-hop producer, has filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, alleging serious financial misconduct and abuse of their business partnership. The legal action, filed in Los Angeles on October 31, coincides with the fourth anniversary of MF DOOM’s death, further highlighting the significance of the case within the hip-hop community.
Madlib claims that Egon’s actions constitute “rank self-dealing” and persistent mismanagement, with allegations that Egon withheld crucial financial information, engaged in unauthorized dealings, and inserted his own record label, Now-Again Records, as a middleman in Madlib’s business ventures without his consent. This alleged setup, Madlib asserts, enabled Egon to take a cut of income from Madicine Show, a business entity established to manage the producer’s music ventures.
The lawsuit also describes Egon’s alleged resistance to financial audits, failure to provide accurate accounting records, and misallocation of funds within Madicine Show and Rappcats, another joint venture intended to handle Madlib’s merchandise and vinyl sales. Madlib’s legal team reportedly found substantial accounting irregularities in financial records dating from 2018 to 2022, with unexplained payments to Egon and his business associate Jeffrey “Jeff Jank” Carlson totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to Madlib, Egon further abused his position by locking him out of critical music distribution platforms, including Ingrooves, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and YouTube, as well as the Instagram account for Madlib’s alter-ego, Quasimoto. These actions, Madlib claims, disrupted his professional career and limited his ability to manage his brand.
In addition to damages, Madlib seeks the judicial dissolution of Madicine Show and Rappcats, aiming to recover control over his music catalog, intellectual property, and professional image.