{"id":8523,"date":"2025-11-13T09:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/madlib-ex-manager-files-lawsuit-over-recording-catalog-rights\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T09:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:38:24","slug":"madlib-ex-manager-files-lawsuit-over-recording-catalog-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/madlib-ex-manager-files-lawsuit-over-recording-catalog-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Madlib Ex-Manager Files Lawsuit Over Recording Catalog Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a new front in the nasty legal war between hip-hop producer Madlib and his longtime manager Eothen \u201cEgon\u201d Alapatt<\/strong>: The many songs recorded during their decade-long partnership.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Nov. 11) against Madlib (Otis Lee Jackson Jr.), Egon asked a federal judge to decide who owns the rights to the masters created over the years at their Madicine Show label \u2014 tracks that feature Madlib\u2019s beats under vocals by Mac Miller, Freddie Gibbs, Four Tet and others.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cJackson now claims those works as his personal property and seeks to withdraw them entirely from Madicine Show\u2019s catalog,\u201d writes Egon\u2019s attorney Kenneth Freundlich<\/strong>. \u201cThat is not how the law works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em>, Madlib responded to Egon\u2019s new claims: \u201cI trusted someone who didn\u2019t value the art the way I do. This is a reminder that not everyone who stands beside you is standing for you. When you move with truth, you don\u2019t have to defend yourself. Time and integrity do the talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMadlib, a critically-acclaimed producer known for his work with Kanye West (now Ye) and the late MF Doom, went to court first in 2024 \u2014 accusing Egon of \u201crank self-dealing\u201d and \u201cpervasive mismanagement.\u201d The case, filed in California state court, claimed the manager had abused his power over Madicine Show to profit at Madlib\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

\n\tEgon hit back in May, filing a countersuit blasting Madlib for \u201chaving the audacity to bring this mean-spirited personal action.\u201d In one notable claim, Egon said Madlib\u2019s new label was interfering with music projects that legally belong to Madicine Show, including the release of a years-old recording of the late Miller that has long been rumored to be in the works.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hot<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn the new case on Tuesday, Egon said he needed \u201cimmediate federal intervention\u201d in that legal battle because of a key new development in the earlier lawsuit. <\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, a Los Angeles judge sided with Madlib and ruled that a court-appointed receiver should oversee the corporate dissolution of Madicine Show. The ruling came over objections from Egon, who said he himself should oversee the company\u2019s wind-down. \u201cDefendant is not the appropriate person to oversee the dissolution process,\u201d the judge said at the time. \u201cThe court will appoint a receiver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut now, weeks later, Egon says in his new lawsuit that the breakup process cannot move ahead until it\u2019s clear who owns the company\u2019s \u201cmost valuable assets\u201d: its catalog of recorded music. And since copyright law is handled exclusively by federal courts, he says that decision must be made by a U.S. district judge.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe recordings at issue were created and exploited pursuant to a licensing relationship between Jackson and Madicine Show,\u201d Egon writes. \u201cThey remain company assets, and their ownership must be determined under the Copyright Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Pras<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAccording to the lawsuit, the tracks recorded by Miller and others over Madlib\u2019s beats were \u201cfacilitated, supervised, and produced\u201d by Egon under a longstanding arrangement in which the company<\/em> controlled them. The producer\u2019s recent claim that \u201che alone owns all copyrights\u201d is \u201cmystifying\u201d and legally incorrect, the suit says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis position ignores the parties\u2019 mutual understanding and Alapatt\u2019s creative, financial, and managerial contributions,\u201d Egon\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cAfter benefiting from that arrangement, Jackson cannot revoke or withdraw those rights or claim exclusive ownership of works that were created, produced, and marketed under Madicine Show\u2019s direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttorneys for both sides did not immediately return requests for comment on the new case.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a new front in the nasty legal war between hip-hop producer Madlib and his longtime manager Eothen \u201cEgon\u201d Alapatt: The many songs recorded during their decade-long partnership. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2571,1328,297,303,3991,7016,408],"class_list":["post-8523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-catalog","tag-exmanager","tag-files","tag-lawsuit","tag-madlib","tag-recording","tag-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}