MF DOOM's Estate Calls Out Now-Again Records Founder Eothen Alapatt For Hoarding Late Rapper's Notebooks

MF DOOM's Estate Calls Out Now-Again Records Founder Eothen Alapatt For Hoarding Late Rapper's Notebooks

Jasmine Dumile, widow of MF DOOM, is suing Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt for not returning the late rapper's rhyme books. According to DOOM's estate, she attempted unsuccessfully even before her husband passed away in 2020 to obtain these notebooks back from Alapatt.

Now, Jasmine is sharing screenshots of Gmail correspondence between herself and Alapatt. It appears Alapatt is holding onto the books which DOOM and Jasmine wrote to using Karlo Metal-Franks' alias.

Talib Kweli Alleges Egon Stole MF DOOM’s Rhyme Books

In August, Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli took to Instagram to accuse Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt of stealing MF DOOM's rhyme books. The Bronx MC denounced Alapatt as a "culture vulture" who has exploited Black artists and brags about it.

Recently, Jasmine Dumile, the widow of MF DOOM, confirmed the theft and said she made multiple attempts to retrieve his lyric books prior to his passing in 2020. But Alapatt apparently refused to return DOOM's lyrics books despite her numerous efforts.

Dumile has previously accused Alapatt of stealing DOOM's rhyme books; she claimed he had them before the artist passed away and refused to return them. However, she held off publicizing this information due to fear it could cause more harm than good.

On Wednesday, Kweli took to Instagram to make some serious accusations against Egon. He listed several examples of how he has allegedly mistreated other Black recording artists and claimed that Egon attempted to prevent the release of Black Star's most recent album No Fear of Time.

Kweli posted a screenshot of an email from Egon dated July 2022 in which the Now-Again executive threatened to stop communication with him. Additionally, Egon referred to Kweli as a "non Black person," prompting Kweli's decision to go on the attack against Egon.

Kweli's most prominent criticism of Egon is his tendency to hoard Black artists' catalogs and attempt to control what gets sampled. Kweli sees this as an act of racism, explaining why Egon has been able to keep Black artists out of the hip-hop spotlight for so long.

Jasmine Dumile, DOOM's widow, revealed to Complex that his lyric books are currently with Egon, president and founder of Now-Again Records. She further stated that she had been trying to retrieve them for years but has been unsuccessful so far. With any luck, soon the family will receive their beloved mementos back.

DOOM’s Widow Jasmine Dumile Says Egon Refused to Return Them

In October 2020, MF DOOM tragically passed away, leaving behind a wake of grief in the hip-hop community. Unfortunately, his family has had little luck recovering his lyric books from music executive Eothen "Egon" Alapatt. TMZ recently reported that DOOM's widow Jasmine Dumile believes Alapatt still owns her husband's handwritten book of lyrics and rhymes; documents which had been in Alapatt's possession long before DOOM passed away.

Dumile reported that despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the rhyme books, Alapatt still refuses to return them. She further revealed that Alapatt is a business partner of Madlib - one of DOOM's collaborators from 2004 album Madvillainy - whom DOOM also recorded with on this project.

DOOM's family is taking matters into their own hands in an effort to recover his rhyme books, which are currently held by Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt. This music executive was a close friend of DOOM and worked alongside him on projects including Madvillainy.

Last summer, Talib Kweli took to Instagram to denounce Egon for allegedly stealing DOOM's rhyme books. Kweli accused Alapatt of taking advantage of Black artists by stealing their work.

According to a new report, DOOM's wife Jasmine Dumile has confirmed Kweli's allegations against Alapatt. In an interview with Complex magazine, Dumile revealed she had been trying to recover DOOM's lyric books from Alapatt before his passing in 2020.

She alleges that Alapatt's former business associate has been holding onto the late rapper's records for nearly two years and she's fed up with his insistence on not returning them to her. She and other members of the MC's team have attempted numerous times over the past year to contact Alapatt, yet have received no reply.

Recently, however, a screenshot of emails between Egon and the rapper's estate were posted to Twitter, seemingly confirming that Alapatt has indeed been holding onto his former partner's works. These emails date from the early 2000s, and already the MC's estate has threatened legal action against Alapatt for failing to return them.

Up until now, the Hip-Hop community has largely disregarded MF DOOM's rhyme books. But that may change with a biography set for release in 2024 and several artists paying homage to the late rapper in recent weeks. We can only hope that soon we will all be able to appreciate MF DOOM's incredible talent once again.

DOOM’s Family Calls Out Egon For Hoarding Late MC’s Notebooks

Last year, Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt was accused of hoarding MF DOOM's rhyme notebooks by Talib Kweli - his longtime collaborator and associate. One year after DOOM's widow Jasmine Dumile confirmed Egon had the notebooks, she claimed he has refused to return them. On Wednesday (March 1), DOOM's estate shared an email chain between him, Alapatt and a mysterious party who appears to be DOOM himself under the name Karlo Metal-Franks, imploring him to return the books. A screenshot of the conversation shows an email from January 2017 between DOOM and Egon that requests Alapatt "take these notebooks off your hands" in order to "maintain a good relationship." It's unclear what this email was about, but so far Alapatt has yet to reply.