The wife of MF DOOM has accused her husband’s former collaborator Eothen “Egon” Alapatt of withholding notebooks containing lyrics written by the late rapper.
On Wednesday (March 1), Jasmine Dumile took to Instagram to reveal screenshots of emails sent to Egon by DOOM inquiring about the notebooks. The emails, which were dated as being sent in 2016 and 2017, show the masked rapper inquiring about the whereabouts of the notebooks, which were apparently in the possession of a man referred to as “H” in the correspondence.
“Hope you’re well,” Doom wrote in an email dated August 16, 2016. “Any word from H—on my belongings. I really need those notebooks.” In Egon’s reply, he claimed to have no knowledge of “H”s location and that the building that once housed the missing rhyme-books had been sold. “I’ve no idea where H—is. As I told — when she contacted me, he disappeared when his family sold the building, which, from what I understand, has been gutted,” the music exec wrote.
A few weeks later, his wife reached out to Egon once again, this time informing him that they’d been in contact with “H” and were aware that he had been given the notebooks belonging to DOOM. “We heard from H—he advised that he gave you DOOM’s notebooks. You can send them to the address below,” Dumile requested in the email.
After months of no communication, in January 2017, DOOM himself followed up in the email chain, offering to compensate Egon for “safekeeping” the notebooks while reiterating his desire to have all of them in his possession, as well as any of DOOM’s other items.
“I also come to find out my notebooks are in your possession. Let me know the cost of storage so we can promptly reclaim these items. I do appreciate the safe keeping and return of ALL the notebooks and any other property belong to DOOM in your possession.” The beloved rapper also added that he hopes to maintain “good relations” with Egon in the future, hinting that the state of their relationship is contingent upon arrival of the notebooks.
As the caption of the thread, which reads “Egon Give The Notebooks Back” and includes Egon’s supposed Instagram account, indicates, the rogue collaborator has yet to comply with either DOOM or his wife’s requests, which have since turned into a publicized demand.
According to Egon, he and DOOM met in 2002, when he was the general manager and A&R for Stones Throw Records. Egon, who currently runs the record labels Now-Again Records and Madlib Invazion, worked on the Madvillainy album by DOOM and Madlib that was released in 2004. In August 2017, DOOM partnered with Adult Swim for a series called The Missing Notebook Rhymes, which would include 15 previously unreleased songs by the rapper lifted from his collection of rhyme-books. However, the series would be short-lived, with a mere seven being released before Adult Swim pulled the plug the following month.
“Adult Swim is ending our relationship with DOOM, and thus, the remaining Missing Notebook Rhymes will unfortunately have to remain…missing,” the network said in a statement at the time. “We are glad to have had the chance to provide the previous free tracks to our fans.”
MF DOOM passed away on October 31, 2020, but his death wasn’t revealed until two months later, when his wife broke the tragic news of his passing on social media.
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