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.”