Talib Kweli has accused Madlib’s longtime business partner Eothen “Egon” Alapatt of stealing MF DOOM’s rhyme book among a series of other allegations.
On Wednesday (August 31), the Black Star rapper took to Instagram to call out the Now-Again Records boss for being a “culture vulture” and highlight how he allegedly “takes advantage of Black artists and brags about it.”
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Sharing a screenshot of an email Egon had sent him as well as a few other related pics, Kweli wrote: “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.
Kweli then talked about how a discussion needs to be had about how Egon has allegedly tried to take advantage of J Dilla’s mother and “block” the release of Black Star’s most recent album, No Fear of Time.
He went on: “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.
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“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.”
The post’s final claim sees Kweli accuse Egon of stealing a rhyme book belonging to the late MF DOOM. Egon allegedly refuses to give the book to DOOM’s family.
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“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,” Kweli wrote. “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.”
Meanwhile, it was revealed earlier this month that Talib Kweli is suing the website Jezebel for $300,000 over an article they wrote about him in 2020, which he’s said has caused him “emotional distress.”
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Jezebel published a story titled “Talib Kweli’s Harassment Campaign Shows How Unprotected Black Women Are Online and Off” in August 2020, which detailed the rapper’s social media interactions with a then-24-year-old student and activist named Maya Moody.
The exchange resulted in Twitter permanently banning Kweli (real name Talib Kweli Greene) from the platform, citing “repeated violations of Twitter rules.”
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In the lawsuit, filed on his own behalf in a New York court earlier in August, the Brooklyn native claimed Jezebel “took advantage of [him] and used him as a guinea pig to clarify how [B]lack men treat [B]lack women; meanwhile, the plaintiff never harassed anyone; he was defending himself and his family.”
