Rumors have recently been circulating that Epik, the 20-year-old Lorain, Ohio emcee signed to Aftermath producer Focus’ aFam Records label, is both suing Bay area veteran JT Tha Bigga Figga and was involved in a physical confrontation with fellow Buckeye state native Bow Wow. Yesterday, Epik spoke exclusively with HipHopDX to clear up these rumors.
Last week rumors surfaced online that Epik was suing JT for allegedly stealing a song he had originally recorded with The Game, which is now apparently being used as a single off of JT’s latest repackaging of pre-Aftermath recordings with Game entitled Born In The Bay. Epik claims that the originally hook-less untitled track first appeared on his 2005 street album, Mick Boogie Presents: Somethin Epik…Volume 1. A hook-included revamped version of the song can be heard on his Myspace [click here to hear].
“I put it out, got a big buzz [off it],” Epik begins. “We just put it out, just leaked it. It didn’t even have a hook on it at first. Then we went back and remixed it. But the main one that went out without the hook, JT took that one and he chopped it up a little bit, threw his own hook on it, made room for his second verse and then put [my verse] on last. He’s been putting it out to like Napster and all these other sites trying to leak it as his main single, and it’s called ‘Get Ya Money Right.’ A whole bunch of people been hitting me up about it.”
The rumors regarding this situation with JT erroneously suggested that Epik was suing his original collaborator on the song, The Game. “It don’t got nothing to with Game at all,” Epik clarifies. “I ain’t got no problems with The Game. It’s just JT. And as far as suing goes, I’m not really sure how [aFam] is gonna handle that right now. So I don’t know if there’s gonna be a lawsuit [filed against JT] or not. I’m just waiting to hear back from them to see how they’re gonna handle it.”
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Epik is confident aFam will handle this dispute properly. Having first got down with Aftermath Entertainment in-house producer Focus in ’04 when he was just 17-years-old after sending his demo to the beatmaker, the two have been working together ever since, making their union official in December with Epik’s signing to aFam.
“He’s out in L.A. with Dre doing Detox,” Epik notes of Focus’ current focus. “So I might be going out there to work on my album. He wants to put out his album, Dedicated, and then put my shit out, and then we’re gonna go get the major distribution [for aFam] once both those records are out. He’s well connected to where he could probably do something with Interscope or Universal.”
Focus’ Chronic-style compilation, Dedicated, is set to be ye’s first release in a couple months. The album’s first single, “Shine,” featuring Busta Rhymes and Bishop Lamont can be heard [click here].
After spending the past few years grindin’ on the independent scene, Epik’s profile is sure to be raised in ’08 after the release of Dedicated and his currently untitled aFam debut disc due by years end. With an appetizer mixtape helmed by Shadyville DJ Woogie planned, and several song placements on prominent television shows (including CBS’ Without A Trace and Numbers, and ESPN’s coverage of the And 1 Tour, which featured Epik’s song with Game) already getting his music out nationally, the spitter from a small steel town is sure to soon be a household name nationally.
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Unfortunately for now, Epik isn’t as well known for his music as he is for the rumors attached to his name, one of which claims he was involved in a “scuffle” with fellow Ohioan Bow Wow at a tour stop last month. “I will say that I’m not a Bow Wow fan,” Epik begins, before clarifying that there was no confrontation between himself and Bow. “Nothing happened at all. I guess somebody must’ve heard the song I did over Focus’ beat called ‘Gotta Get It’ where I threw a couple lines at him, and I guess people… I don’t know, I guess something happened backstage, some type of fight, I don’t know who it was with, and people tried to put my name in that ‘cause [of the song] and I’m from Cleveland and it happened in Cleveland. I don’t even know where the concert was at.”
Another rumor put to rest courtesy of HipHopDX.
