Houston Studio Owner Claims J Prince Ordered Assault, Files Lawsuit Over Bun B Single

Houston music executive/Ronnie Bookman filed a lawsuit today (April 12]), claiming that Rap-A-Lot Records’ CEO James "J. Prince" Prince orchestrated an attack against Bookman at Prince’s Fresh Recreation Center Gym in Houston. Bookman is the owner of Houston recording studio, Studio 7303. He also recently established a new music label entitled 7303 Records. According to […]

Houston

music executive/Ronnie Bookman filed a lawsuit today (April 12]), claiming that

Rap-A-Lot Records’ CEO James "J. Prince" Prince orchestrated an attack

against Bookman at Prince’s Fresh Recreation Center Gym in Houston. Bookman

is the owner of Houston recording studio, Studio 7303. He also recently established

a new music label entitled 7303 Records. According

to the lawsuit, Bookman claims the beating took place after he was lured to Prince’s

gym for a business meeting, to discuss the clearance of one of Prince’s artists

to appear on an album by one Bookman’s first artists. Prince

allegedly allowed rapper Bun B to record a single titled "Wrong for Dat"

with 7303 artist Javon "JV" Daniels and agreed to sign over all the

rights to the song.

In exchange, Bun B recorded the gold selling Trill album at 7303 for a

substantially discounted cost. According

to the lawsuit, Prince and Rap-A-Lot Records reneged on their agreement to release

the Bun B. single, after Warner Brothers approached Bookman with a an offer for

a label deal."What

he did was lure me over there to the gym like he was going to sign off on the

clearance forms,” Bookman said in a statement. “So I went over there

and didn’t think nothing of it.”

Bookman said what he thought was going to be an ordinary business meeting soon

took an ugly turn. "We

went into the weight room," Bookman said. "After we discussed some bogus

contracts that he had sent over to my studio, which were a clumsy attempt to try

to steal my studio, he told me that I had been talking about Rap-A-Lot Records,

and we went back and forth with that. He put somebody on the phone and we chopped

that up..then I asked him: ‘now what?’ He said ‘uh huh, OK, OK … now let’s see

how you gonna like this!’ And then he opened a door and those seven guys came

rushing out and did their number on me." As

a result of the beating, Bookman suffered a broken nose and head injuries including

two blacks eyes, one of which will require surgery. "This

was a vicious act of intimidation, plain and simple," said John B. Thomas,

lead counsel for Bookman. "We believe Mr. Prince’s plan was to eliminatecompetition

in the Houston Rap and Hip-Hop music business through the use of threats, intimidation

and violence."Bookman

is suing for Prince for breach of contract, battery, unfair competition, duress,

conspiracy and unjust enrichment. He is also seeking a court order barring Prince

and any business associate from coming 500 feet within his home or business.“I’m

not going to let someone come in and destroy my business through threats or intimidation,”

Bookman said. “I want to serve notice that it’s time to stop this right now.”