OT: An open letter from Eek A Mouse

[dub boy]

Found this over on Blood&Fire. A really sad letter by the legendary reggae singjay concerning personal crisis & the reggae industry at large...

It's an interesting read.




To All My Fans & Well Wishers

Here are some of the people who robbed, lied and are trying to mess up my career:

Robert Fitzpatrick (Ex Manager)
Gary Hemelfarb (C.E.O. Ras Records)
Gary Folgner (C.E.O. Coach House Rocords & The Coach House, San Jaun Capistrano, CA.)
Tim McClure (Tour Manager)
Roger Southfield (Tour Manager)
Rebecca Wills (My Baby’s Mom)
Mr & Mrs Bill & Sue Wills (Rebecca’s parents)
Jennifer Wills (Rebecca’s sister)
David or Billy (Sound Engineer at El Centro recording studio San Diego)
Malcolm King (At my house with Rebecca)
Duck (Ex Drummer)
Brad (Chronic Industry)
Jim Buss (Son of Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers)
Melinda Manos (Manos Management)
Carol Bruno (C.E.O. Reggae On The River)
Roger Steffens (President of The Reggae Grammy)
Astor Black (First Promoter to rob me)
Warren Smith (C.E.O. Sieria Nevada Reggae Fest)
Matt Robinson (Brother of Holly Robinson-Pete)
Carl Stubner (Ex Manager)
Edward G. Horowitz (C.M.G. Creative Management Groups)
Todd Ellegard (C.E.O. of his dad’s Real Estate Agency)
Othman Muklis (Yo! Jamdown)
George Michaelow (Fast Lane Production)

Toran Hylton 10 years old
Joseph Hylton 7 years old
Ripton Hylton 5 years old
Ethlyn Hylton 3 years old
Yishka Hylton 1.5 years old
All of my beautiful children were kidnapped by some of these people, who are asking for a ransom.

I was also shot at by unknown gunmen while I was in Trench Town, Jamaica. They also murdered my two daughters (Renee & Misha) boyfriends (Sean & Father Escoba) to send a message, that I’d be next. Ps Bong-Ding-Ding!

I was also banned from The United States by some of these people (Robert Fitzpatrick, Gary Hemelfarb & Gary Folgner). Who didn’t pay my taxes and so as to get rid of me they reported me to the IRS, and refused to renew my work visa.

For three years Robert and Gary Folgner told me that they had put my money from the tours in an artist trust fund, but soon after they quit being my managers. They told me that the money was no longer mine and that they had given it to Rebecca and her parents.

I have tried to call Rebecca, but she refuses to talk to me. She wouldn’t even let me speak to my children, and when I did it was for less than a minute. The Kids would just say that they hate me and then she would hang up the phone.

Toran was born a genius, because at the age of 3 he was reading the Encyclopaedia and Dictionary.

He was so smart that while he was in second grade he could do mathematics that the 6th & 7th grade students were doing.

He has got the best of both sides, as I am black and his mom is white.

The teachers at his school in Irvine, CA would never speak to me, yet they would speak to Rebecca.

Then some of these people, because they are rich decided to advice Rebecca to get rid of me so they can adopt our children. She would curse me for no reason and sometimes she would be gone for hours with my car and the children and leave me stranded in the house alone.

Toran learned to play the violin in less than a month. I enrolled him in an acting school (John Robert Powers) and in less than two months he was on national television. He got to guest star on the television series “My Wife And Kids” with Serena Williams. He also was in Mary J. Blige’s music video “A New Day” with my other son Ripton III and got a nation wide commercial with SEARS. This made his grandparents got jealous because here is the black man who took care of the daughter they threw out of their house, and now that she had found a good man they decide to get rid of me, so it would seem like they are the best parents.

When I met Rebecca she told me that she was 19 years old, but she was 16. I found this out when she got pregnant with my son Toran. Even her parents lied to me because they also told me that she was 19 years old. When I asked her father why did he lied to me, he just said that he needed her to get out of Ocean City, Maryland because she was in and out of jail and getting into a lot of trouble with her friends Lauren and Brandy.

I could have left Rebecca when Toran was less than a year old, because she was still seeing her ex-boyfriend Zeus, whenever she went back to Ocean City. Once I found a Valentine’s letter which she was about to send him while he was in jail.

When I asked her why she was doing this to me, she just locked the door and started to cry, telling me that she was sorry. She was also seeing Malcolm King while she was pregnant.

Once I found his drivers licence in my house, no wonder why she didn’t want to have a baby sitter or friends, because this would make it easier for her to do whatever she wanted while I was not at home. She even had a cell phone and would never turn it on when I was at home, only when I was away.

It was very difficult for me to sleep at nights because I had to cook, and always going to the grocery store. When her parents came to visit us they would just take my children and go to the beach without inviting me.

She always told me that nobody would believe me because she was young and white, and that is why she lied to all those rich white people.

Some of these people (Edward G. Horowitz) were booking shows for me while I was in Europe and Jamaica, just to make it seems as if it was me cancelling the shows, Rebecca had also lied to him. The tour managers (Roger Southfield, Greg or Tim McLure) would either give the money to Robert or Gary Folgner, because Rebecca told them that I was not a good father.

Once they ran away with the money and van, and left myself and the band stranded in Florida.

I also lost my house in Irvine and was living at hotels (Extended Stay & California Palm). None of these people including Todd Ellegard who was the C.E.O. for his dad’s real estate agency would help me to find a place to live.

Once I was at a club having some drinks/ socializing with Jim Buss and some other friends, (Rebecca had always refused to go out with me even when I was performing locally. This would make it seem as if I was keeping her at home with the children), she called to know who I was with at the club that night. I told her I was with Jim buss. She then asked who is Jim Buss? So I told her that he was the son of Jerry Buss who owns the Los Angeles Lakers. She told me that she would like to talk to him then she began telling him how I was not a good father, and that I always leave her at home alone with the kids. She did this so these rich white people would feel sorry for her and come to her rescue thinking that this big black beast is abusing her.

There is a lot more to say, but I’m busy writing about my Eeksperience.

Anyway, let me mention a few more things you need to know.
Some of these people (George Michaelow, Matt Robinson, Othman Muklis & Malcolm King) would tell me that they knew people who could put me in the movies and getting me record deals but they were only interested on building their career at my expense.
Some of them (Malcolm King& Gary Folgner) would be at my house until 4am talking to Rebecca. I knew this because they even talked to me while I was in Europe telling me that I am an idiot and no one will believe me because I’m banned from America.

Ok, I’m tired, but it’s very difficult to sleep thinking about what they have done to me. Seen!
I’m not thinking about suicide, so don’t worry. I’m still your Bong-Ding-Ding!
Eek-A-Mouse

The material things that I have lost doesn’t mean a thing to me, but what is more important is those innocent kids who are being raised by those people who most of them are racist, liars and a bunch of thieves, who’s main purpose was to mess up my life.

Some of these people (Robert Fitzpatrick, Tim McClure & Gary Folgner) hate to see these young white kids enjoying my music, they would ask me if I was messing with these underage girls. They were very jealous of me while acting as my manager.

One other thing that people should also know is that Gary Folgner refused to hire black waitresses at his clubs, ‘The Galaxy’ in Costa Mesa and ‘The Coach House’ in San Juan Capistrano, no wonder why he was at my house telling Rebecca what to do to me.

This is the first time in my life that I have ever experience racism and this was around most of these people.

When Tim McLure got drunk he would call me a ****** and then apologise. He didn’t like any of the other guys in the band and would always tell me that I was his only ****** friend. Once I was at the Coach House with him and his friends having a few drinks. His friend (Flash) wife was speaking to me so he (Flash) got upset and asked his wife, why is she talking to this ******, when Tim saw this he told Flash that this one is my friend and I was cool.

Once I went to pick up some money from Gary Folgner at the Galaxy Club in Costa Mesa with Rebecca and the kids, and while we were in his office he looked at Rebecca and asked her what she saw in me because I was too old for her. Gary just laughed and told me that he was joking, this was a subliminal message that he was trying to tell Rebecca to get rid of me. Gary is over 65 years old and doesn’t have any children, so he told Rebecca that my children were beautiful and he would love to adopt Toran.

Once his dad came into the office and saw me and asked Gary if I was a basket ball player? When Gary told him that I was not a basket ball player, he looked at Gary and told him that’s the only thing that black people can do.

Gary told me that I should not worry about it because his father is from the old school.

I’ve been through this in Mission Beach when I got in a fight with three white guys who saw me in a bar talking to a white girl. This guy just came up to me and punches me in my face. I went outside to get a piece of iron to defend myself and when I came back they were gone. The owner told me that I should not come back inside the club so I got upset and broke the glass. Then the cops came and arrested me. Then some guy in the neighbourhood (Kenny) started to call me a dead ****** walking.
On a Sunday at Mission Beach, black and white would be on opposite sides on the beach, and the police would have mobile jail where the black people were.

Once I was eavesdropping on the phone and heard Gary Hemalfarb telling Rebecca to take my children to his brothers’ house in Bel Air if she needed some place to stay. He also told me that I would not receive any royalties from my record sales and that he will give it to Rebecca and the kids. It was around Christmas time in Jamaica and he send me $500 for myself and family in Jamaica, he knew that was not enough because my children were aged 17, 20 and 24 years old, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to see me suffer.

He knew that I was trying to get out of Trench Town, but he didn’t seem to care, he just wanted to hurt me.

I call Todd Ellegard and told him that I needed some money but all he said was that they are taking care of Rebecca and the kids and then hung up the phone.

Robert Fitzpatrick had made sure that all my royalties and publishing was going to either Coach House Records or R.F.O. (Robert Fitzpatrick Organisation).

He also waited until my work visa was about to expire then he quit and was telling me that he only way that he would take care of my visa was only if I would let him be my manager. I knew I would be illegal in America, because he was my sponsor so I stayed for another year, living in a hotel.

He told me that he was taking care of my taxes, so he took me to meet with some of his friends, who were around his age group. These people he said he knew for over 30 years. He told me they were C.P.A. (Certified Public Accountants), but he was only taking me to my doom because he knew that these guys were going to report me to the I.R.S., which they did.

I then got a letter from the I.R.S. stating that I owed them $60,000. When I asked Robert about it he just told me that he had made a mistake and he’ll take care of it, which he never did. Even when Rebecca was about to have another baby he made sure that he would send me on tour, and told me that he and Gary Folgner would take care of Rebecca and the kids. Sometimes he would never want to answer my calls and when he did he would tell me that he had already spoken to Rebecca, so I should get the information from her.

Harold a.k.a Duck, was the drummer in my band, this piece of sh*t is trying to release a new CD with me, but these songs are some demos that I had done at his studio. But because I’m not in America he called me just to tell me that he is about to release it.

But, I’ll be back in the U.S.A. some day to fight these evil people who are trying to mess up my life.

I felt very offensive about the two videos that Jr. Gong did with NAS and Bobby Brown, because this goes to show how as soon as a reggae artist get to do a reggae song (Welcome To Jam Rock) that is very successful they immediately try to cross over with these Rappers or R’n’B artists when none of them respect reggae music. He should have done ‘Khaki Suit’, which would be the perfect follow up to ‘Welcome To Jam Rock’, but they didn’t, I wonder why?

Maybe they didn’t want to promote Bounty Killer and myself, or maybe they wanted to rub shoulders with Bobby Brown and Whitney. Let’s see Whitney, Bobby, Beyonce or Jay-Z do a reggae song with one of us then I’ll take back all of what I have said.

Most of these Rappers and R’n’B artist would never sing on a beat that is a 100% reggae, but they’ll put a little piece of it in their music to decorate it and say “you see we like reggae”.

Reggae can only be identified with Bob Marley as if he is the only person from Jamaica that will be universally successful and no one else from Jamaica will.

Nobody can be like Bob Marley or Asafa Powell but records are made to be broken.

The rap game has got so many mega stars because these guys care about each other. They may talk about bitches, whores, pimps, drive by shooting, bling-bling and drinking Gin & Juice, but they are not jealous of each other, like most of these reggae artist. The reggae artists will never promote each other whenever they are being interviewed by the International press, all they would say is we love Bob Marley.

This a business and not just show no wonder why we are all broke, so all you reggae artist who are hitting the big time, just remember where you are coming from and not just where they are taking you.

This is a question I must ask, did Bob Marley colour play an important part in his claim to fame in reggae?
I have seen this for years with all the other reggae bands that have become very rich and successful such as, The Police, Men At Work, UB40, Ace Of Base, Big Mountain, Snow (who tried to sound like me) and now Gentleman. Is this a colour thing?

Now we see Shaggy and Sean Paul, ain’t nobody who can tell me that the music is not thinking about the colour of one skin before promoting there artist.
I am one of the most unique artist in the reggae industry, and also one of the most recognised voice in the world of music. So what I am saying is, if I didn’t have a black complexion I would have been rich and famous. No one seems to call me, is it because I’m not a Marley?

No one ever gives Peter Tosh or Jimmy Cliff the respect they deserve or even gives Andrew Tosh (Peters’ son) a piece of the reggae cake.
Bob Marley kids have enjoyed a lot of slices, why not Andrew Tosh, he sounds exactly as his father just as most of Bobs’ kids. We never see Andrew and any of the Marley kids doing a song together, or going on tour together. Is there a rivalry? Rumour had it that Bob and Peter were rivals, has this been rubbed off onto their children? I hope not, because Rasta don’t hate or discriminate no one!

P.s. Ding-Ding-Dong!


Do You Think Black Americans Loves Reggae?

The answer is “Not Really”, on a small minority. The most you’ll see is the ones in San Diego, South Carolina, New Orleans and East St. Louis. The majority never support our music, yet it was a Jamaican who introduced the rapping to America.

You may see some of these rich Negroes wearing Bob’s T-shirt in their videos or on their TV series, but do they really love reggae. Most black Americans at least half the population have Caribbean parents or some relatives from Jamaica, Trinidad or somewhere in the Caribbean.

But if they were really interested, P. Diddy, Oprah Whinfrey or Bill Cosby and some of the other one would have given it some thought, because they are all pro-black but yet they don’t seems to care. Ain’t pro-black mean that you should support what your black brothers and sisters are doing? Does Jessy Jackson, Louis Farrakan or Rev. Al Sharpton even listen to reggae. The biggest reggae and rap supporters are in Africa, yet although most are poor they still find money to come see the concerts.

Is it maybe because Bob’s skin wasn’t black enough, that’s why black Americans didn’t support him. It would be nice to see Oprah having a reggae band on her show or interviewing Lady Saw or Macka Diamond, because these women are just has good and raunchy as Li’l Kim and Missy Elliott.

Rita Marley too is a billionaire just as Oprah. Is it because Oprah is nervous to see another black queen who is just as rich as her, or is she afraid that Rita would tell her what not to eat and what to smoke?

Bob Marley had gone on tour with a few R’n’B, soul or funk band, and in the middle of the tour they fired him. When he was performing with Lionel Richie and The Commodores the crowd left as soon as he finished his performance. Maybe black Americans are scared that the reggae music may over shadow American black music and this is ridiculous. Eddie Murphy made a mockery of Bob when he dressed up like a rastaman on Saturday Night Live and was singing about “kill the white people, but let them buy our record first”.

I think that was a negative vibe for the reggae world, but maybe Eddie didn’t mean it at the time, but if he looked back at it I think he owe the reggae industry an apology. Eddie must have loved reggae because he did a video with Shabba Ranks (I was a King), Eddie can sing but not as Jamie Fox.
P.s Bong-Ding-Ding!

Reggae is an underground billion dollar business that we the artist are not aware of, no wonder why these so called small reggae record companies has failed to disclose the royalties figures which they hide from us.

Ras Records is one of the main culprits who for over the decades have always been telling us that the most a reggae album or CD would sell is 10,000 copies worldwide.

Each year Ras Records will give me not more than $500 or a $1,000 and kept saying that the music is not selling like it use to be when Bob Marley was around.
There was no Ras Records when Bob was around, so why he kept telling us all this crap. He knew that it was a money making business so it seems as soon as Bob was not around he decided that he could come to Jamaica with less than $15,000 which he always felt happy talking about.

Now he has sold the business to Sanctuary for millions of dollars and still paying us the same amount of money that he has been paying us for the pass twenty years. Once he invited me to Bel Air while we were there enjoying some of his half cooked jerk chicken and cheap ass beer he told me that it was his brothers’ house and not his. Why would he tell me this if he didn’t felt guilty. Reggae is the most exploited music in the world and yet we the artist had not seen even a penny.

At least Greensleeves was honest enough to say that they sold the company for £3.25 million.

I hope that about 5 or 10% of that sum is mine, because I was so surprised to see a picture of myself in the Sun, which is a national and widely read newspaper in the United Kingdom. Of the 80,000,000 people in England at least half the population read the paper that day, so Greensleeves must have sold at least 500, 000 or more Eek-A-Mouse CDs. Let’s just see because I kinda like these guys (Chris Sedgwick) because if I’m in need of money, which I am always, he would give me a couple of quid (pounds).

But not Ras Records (Gary Hemelfarb) he’s just a snake, he’ll bite you when you are in need of money. He’ll just say “Let’s do another album, Mouse”, and see if we can sell more than 10,000 copies this time. I wonder how much million of dollars he got when he sold Ras Records. But he won’t tell us, now Bob must be saying, why isn’t Rita doing anything about this! Bob will be back soon, just like Elvis Presley there has been a lot of people who say that they have seen Bob in England, Europe, Africa and Asia. Just the other day someone said that they saw him in Ethiopia.

P.s. Rasta lives!

Reggae Artist Beware of These London Producers

Reggae artist should be aware of some producers who are in London. As soon as you get off the plane they are right there to take you to the recording studio to do a dub plate or a recorded song.

Make sure that you are paid before you even go to the studio, because as soon as you record your song you may not see them again, and there are your own Jamaican brothers. They are just there to hustle.«

[8bitwonder]

erm .....deep man

[dub boy]

He makes alot of valid points mind. For example only white reggae artists selling massive amounts of records (aside from Bob)

Think about it, shaggy & sean paul are both uptown and fair-skinned.

[j_j]

^^ theyre both weak as fuck !!

[tronman]

For example only white reggae artists selling massive amounts of records (aside from Bob)

yeh and bob was mixed race anyway wasn't he? wasn't his dad a scouser??

[dub boy]

^^ theyre both weak as fuck !!

I beg to differ...

Shaggy has released some wicked tunes. The new one on Gangsta Rock riddim, 'Nicer Than Yard' is fantastic and is huge in the dance right now. I think you're just writing him off for the pop stuff. You should check Stand Up & Fight and Big Up if want convincing. Shaggy's rude!

Same goes for Sean Paul. Loads of it's crap but tunes like Hot Gal Today, Infiltrate & Deport Them are dancehall gems. Standard.

[dub boy]

For example only white reggae artists selling massive amounts of records (aside from Bob)

yeh and bob was mixed race anyway wasn't he? wasn't his dad a scouser??

Very true! His old man was a Navyman.

UB40, Big Mountain, Ace Of Bass etc... they sell much more than proper reggae artists. Sad but true. I'll defend Snow to an extent because he's a genuinely talented mc and has releseased some top stuff on NYC dancehall label Massive B. Unfortunately people just remember him for Informer

[adruu]

sad man sad...

industry rule #4080...music industry is fucking sick man. lots of leeches, backstabbers, greedy motherfuckers that can buy into glamour. really sad and theres something even sicker when "creative" people start screwing each other over.

stay independent.

[j_j]

^^ theyre both weak as fuck !!

I beg to differ...

Shaggy has released some wicked tunes. The new one on Gangsta Rock riddim, 'Nicer Than Yard' is fantastic and is huge in the dance right now. I think you're just writing him off for the pop stuff. You should check Stand Up & Fight and Big Up if want convincing. Shaggy's rude!

Same goes for Sean Paul. Loads of it's crap but tunes like Hot Gal Today, Infiltrate & Deport Them are dancehall gems. Standard.

bruv youll have to try hard to convince me shaggy n sean paul rnt absolute shite ...

[dub boy]

bruv youll have to try hard to convince me shaggy n sean paul rnt absolute shite ...

lol

Well I'm not trying to convince u but i stand by my convictions! I've played their tunes loads of times and they always go down well in a club. They've both recorded excellent stuff. Ha ha each to their own though...

I realise I'm in the minority here

[deville]

Dub Boy,
I don't think you're in the minority. Infiltrate is an absolute fucking monster tune. My favourite use of that riddim, 'playground' or whatever its called. And Shaggy ain't all bad. Sean Paul has got worse, and there is some argument so say he's making a quick buck by aping the traditional 'black' culture of the island and selling it in a sanitized way to mostly white people but there's no denying he's made some good tracks. Listening to Reggae and Dancehall seems to require a certain amount of suspension of beliefs anyway, commercial 'sell out'-ness or otherwise. Shaggy got worse then better, but then he's been around for longer.. and that track 'it wasn't me' can surely be appreciated for comedy value...?
dV

[rickyricardo]

that's quite a rant there.....though, i'm not really sure why anyone should care about his baby-momma drama

he seems a bit bitter about black americans not supporting reggae like he thinks they should...but his reasoning on it is all wrong. I think that Americans are, for the most part, rather hostile to sounds which are not homegrown. Hell, even some homegrown sound don't get that much exposure either (see Techno). It ain't a race thing, it's a culture thing. Some blacks just don't identify w/ reggae, b/c it's not our experience....

[marsyas]

that's quite a rant there.....though, i'm not really sure why anyone should care about his baby-momma drama

he seems a bit bitter about black americans not supporting reggae like he thinks they should...but his reasoning on it is all wrong. I think that Americans are, for the most part, rather hostile to sounds which are not homegrown. Hell, even some homegrown sound don't get that much exposure either (see Techno). It ain't a race thing, it's a culture thing. Some blacks just don't identify w/ reggae, b/c it's not their experience....

well put Ricky...i agree.

with thst said though...eek-a-mouse is a legend.
truely one of my favorite dee-jays.

[autonomic]

I think that Americans are, for the most part, rather hostile to sounds which are not homegrown.

Very true. Britain's always receiving and reinventing music but the US typically invents something and runs with it for a few decades. Only the homegrown is seen as authentic (hence muted responses to reggae, grime, even foreign hip hop).

[dub boy]

that's quite a rant there.....though, i'm not really sure why anyone should care about his baby-momma drama

he seems a bit bitter about black americans not supporting reggae like he thinks they should...but his reasoning on it is all wrong. I think that Americans are, for the most part, rather hostile to sounds which are not homegrown. Hell, even some homegrown sound don't get that much exposure either (see Techno). It ain't a race thing, it's a culture thing. Some blacks just don't identify w/ reggae, b/c it's not their experience....

well put Ricky...i agree.

with thst said though...eek-a-mouse is a legend.
truely one of my favorite dee-jays.

Yeah, good point well made. I think it's another sad example of reggae music not looking after it's legends. It's depressing to think such an influential and groundbreaking artist finds himself in such a situation.

I had to laugh at his thoughts on Greensleeves sale that he deserves 5-10% of the sale. Reggae logic

On a different note, an Eek A Mouse sample in a dubstep tune could be good fun. Make sure he gets some royalties tho ha ha

[8bitwonder]

^^ theyre both weak as fuck !!

I beg to differ...

Shaggy has released some wicked tunes. The new one on Gangsta Rock riddim, 'Nicer Than Yard' is fantastic and is huge in the dance right now. I think you're just writing him off for the pop stuff. You should check Stand Up & Fight and Big Up if want convincing. Shaggy's rude!

Same goes for Sean Paul. Loads of it's crap but tunes like Hot Gal Today, Infiltrate & Deport Them are dancehall gems. Standard.


bruv youll have to try hard to convince me shaggy n sean paul rnt absolute shite ...

guys shaggy and sean paul should turn it in---they are both dutty raaaassclaaaats! and they aparently smell of wee

[pompende]

industry rule #4080...

record company people are shadyyyyyyy! watch your back coz i bet they smoke crack..



truth about "stay independent" i think that is why we all like dubstep so much.

[charlie]

Wowzers, quite a rant. very unfortunate. It would be interesting to hear the flip side of the story.
If music is a window to the soul, eek a mouse's original styles are an interesting case study. The man's a nutter, bless him.

[unlikely]

difficult to know how to take that..

eek a mouse is one of my favourite mcs of all time though, would be amazing to get him workin on some dubstep

sean paul was quite heavy back when he first started but then intentionally went shit so he could survive off his music, but shaggy... I'll have to have a listen before i judge but i cant imagine anything that good from him, any audio

[dq]

Bong-Ding-Ding!

This is a deep letter man. Made my jaw drop.