Representatives for
Live One Records, which lists Kool Keith, Jacky Jasper and KHM (Kool Keith, H-Bomb
and Marc Live) as official artists, are warning that a bootleg album is being
distributed under the name Dr. Octagon Part II.
According to a
statement, the album is composed of stolen masters of tracks from other albums,
including the unreleased 7th Veil album, The Clayborne Family, Marc Live Validation
and other releases.
“Lawyers
are currently in the processes of issuing documents for a full re-call but of
course some will slip through the cracks,” a representative said. “Do
not support this album.”
The news comes
just as the label had announced that the Kool Keith/Jacky Jasper The 7th Veil
album will feature three new exclusive collaborations with Rick James. The album
also features guest appearances by Ike Turner and Flavor Flav.
Fans of the group
may be disappointed if they purchase the unofficial version. On the popular
Kool Keith fan site, http://www.koolkeith.co.uk/, a 9-1-1 alert was also issued.
"The album
is being bootlegged by 101 Distribution, in association with Real Talk Records
and 33rd Street Records," the site alleged. "The album has already
been shipped and is in stores as of October 12th. It cannot be recalled. The
album features 2 demos, 2 Clayborne Family tracks, and 6 INCOMPLETE tracks from
the upcoming 7th Veil album. The cover of the album features Kool Keith standing
in front of an Escalade, which he is not even down with. 101 Distribution, Real
Talk, and 33rd Street are being sued for this release. According to Jacky Jasper,
the official bootlegger is Michael Kinbrew (a.k.a. Scooby) and his partner Damon
Evans. Supposedly, these two have stolen records from Kurupt and had false negotiation
agreements with Kel of "Kenan and Kel" Nickelodeon). HipHopSite.com
has already recalled the album."
Damon Evans, who
owns 101distribution, said that he had been a victim himself and denied being
partners with Kinbrew.
"The label
[Warzone] represented that it was an official release, Keith represented that
he cosigned on it and that it was a good situation," Evans told AllHipHop.com.
"I don’t know what happened between the two or how it went down, but we
paid money, we didn’t get masters and someone else put it out.
"We called
it Return of Doctor Octagon. Whoever put the other one out, relabeled it Doctor
Octagon Part II. Those are all pictures that the label took. We purchased the
product, had artwork done and everything and then come to find out, I don’t
know who’s hand it was, but the project was sold to another distributor. I’m
not sure who that other distributor is, but my retailers called me to let me
know they had been solicited with the product after the fact. It happens all
the time in this game."
Warzone counts
releases by The Luniz and Kenan Thompson on 101distribution.com’s national charts.
"Michael Kinbrew
is the label owner for Kool Keith, that was Warzone Records. Michael Kinbrew
is also the guy who brought us the Luniz and the Kenan Thompson CD," Evans
continued. "These have all been purchased from him direct as the label,
so I don’t know what kind of confusion there is."
Evans said he did
not know the detail of the agreements Kinbrew had with these artists and said
there seemed to be plenty of "loose ends" that needed to be tied up.
The end result
was not a surprise, he said.
The fact that Warzone
sold the Keith project in question hasn’t deterred Evans from selling Warzone’s
other releases.
"I know the
Kenan Thompson project is not in question and The Luniz project is not in question.
Keith represented that he cosigned on our version of the album."
Kool Keith or representatives
for Live One Records were not available as of press time.
