i get mail... about doctor octagon ii

remember way back in january 2006 when i wrote about dr octagon ii? no?

dr octagon ii was a fake record, a bootleg in the true meaning of the word. some shady operators knew that rapper kool keith had been talking about doing a sequel to his highly successful dr octagon record from the mid-90s, so they got their hands on some kool keith recordings and rushed it to the market under the title "dr octagon ii".

at the time, i blogged about the record, linking to a fan alert (now deleted), quoting this passage:

The album has been bootleged by 101 Distribution, in association with Real Talk Records and 33rd Street Records. 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. Scoobie) and his partner Damon Evans. Supposedely, these two have stolen records from Kurrupt and had false negotiation agreements with Kel of "Kenan and Kel" (Nickelodeon). HipHopSite.com has already recalled the album. Some albums have slipped through the cracks and made it into stores.

i thought the story was pretty much over when the real dr octagon sequel came out five months later, which i loved. but apparently not, because this morning i received this email:

hi stallio,

we came across this link on your site and wanted to speak to you about the validity of its details. 101 did not release the Kool Keith Dr. Octogon Returns bootleg. the fact is, micheal kimbrew sold the title to 33rd Street/ Bayside after we verified the album was not official. while it is true 101 did talk with michael kimbrew just out of sheer interest, tracking the barcode with soundscan will prove no connection between 101 distribution, damon evans and this title or any of the parties you mention in your report.

would it be possible to update this information. it's simply not true.

kind regards,
Damon Evans
Executive Director,
101 DISTRIBUTION
www.101d.com

so there you have it. damon evans of 101 distribution officially denies having anything to do with the bootleg. i of course have no idea who put it out; i was simply quoting from a page on koolkeith.co.uk.¶