Up-and-coming rap group Da Youngfellaz is being sued in the Manhattan Supreme Court by Stigma Sound, a recording studio located in Manhattan, according to a story on nypost.com. The studio alleges that rappers Johnny Aguiar (stage name Jay Storm) and Brett Officer (stage name Sho-Biz), ran through a $130,000 marketing loan by spending it on drugs, first-class airplane tickets and cross-country trips to entertainment festivals at which the duo were not performing.
StigmaSound claims in the suit that the independent emcees blew an initial $25,000 loan, meant to advance the group “toward A-level stardom in the entertainment industry,” in just three months. “The defendants used loan money…for illegal purchases of marijuana,” claim the plaintiffs in the case.
Jay Storm and a third defendant, who is listed in the suit as Joseph Aguiar, do not deny that they smoked marijuana. Joseph Aguiar may be the general manager of New Rich Management, based on a Joe Aguiar being listed as such on Da Youngfellaz Facebook page.
The Bronx, New York-based rap group has said that Frank Marquez, owner of the StigmaSound recording studio, was the one providing the weed for them. The New York Post says that the Aguiars showed them a text allegedly from Marquez that reads, “Tell Storm I got the herbals for him and not all them motherfuckers.”
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Mita Carriman, Marquez’s attorney, said that their allegations are “100 percent false.”
In addition to spending large sums on weed, the suit claims that about six months and $125,000 later Da Youngfellaz had only promoted one of their songs, a track titled “Incognito.”
Instead of using the loaned funds to promote themselves, the group is said to have spent $14,000 to attend the popular Austin, Texas, music festival SXSW, though they were not going to perform at the event.
According to the suit, Jay Storm wrote a mea culpa, or an acknowledgement of error or fault, for his behavior, to Marquez. Strom wrote, “I APOLOGIZE for all of my insults, and comments, I’ve QUIT smoking, and have been for about a month now, I haven’t told you this, but my body, and my mind are going through it, trying to get off the weed,” in an e-mail attached as an exhibit to the suit.
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Da Youngfellaz is signed to New Rich Entertainment and has recorded with Talib Kweli, Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and Nipsey Hussle, according to the group’s website.
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