Mizay and So Icey seem to have gotten wise to this additional source of revenue early on in their relationship with HAH, insisting that all travel and hotel be handled through their office for Gucci Mane and OJ da Juiceman shows instead of through Johnnie. Similarly, they demand that promoters pay a high fee upfront which is wired directly to them. Traditionally, for most bookings, an “all-inclusive” artist fee means that all flights, hotel, and ground transportation is included – unless otherwise specified. But So Icey/Mizay often require a “travel buyout” and then later inform the promoter that there is also an additional “hotel buyout” due, plus ground transportation, which must also be booked through them at a premium rate. The HAH contracts generally only vaguely define the travel expenses, leaving room for “the vampires” to tack on thousands of dollars in additional fees at the last minute. Kym Hall of Royal Pair Entertainment booked OJ da Juiceman to perform in Orlando, FL on Saturday, November 21st, 2009, and although ultimately pleased with his performance, she expressed exasperation with the Mizay/So Icey booking process and feels that they skimmed off the travel money. She claims Jamie Dixon, her So Icey representative, refused to divulge any of OJ’s basic travel information (such as when his flights were arriving, so she feared he would be a no-show) and refused to show her any receipts documenting the actual travel costs. In addition to paying the “travel buyout” for the flights, So Icey demanded a large sum (which Hall feels was excessive, but declined to disclose the exact amount) for a “hotel buyout,” stating that OJ must be placed in a four-or-five star hotel, but refused to tell Hall where he was staying. “The only reason we found out where he was staying is because [OJ had] an ‘incident’ at the hotel and we had to go over there,” explains Hall. It turns out that Mizay/So Icey had taken her large lump sum “fouror-five star hotel buyout” and placed OJ at the SpringHill Suites Maitland, a three-star hotel at best which can be purchased online for around $80. Hall says she is demanding to see receipts and insisting that So Icey refund the difference between the amount of her “hotel buyout” and the actual amount they paid for the hotel (good luck, Kym).
BURNING BRIDGES In the January 2009 issue of Atlanta-based Street Report Magazine, the editor General addressed his issues with Deb in his editorial (below) stemming from an OJ da Juiceman no-show at a Street Report event at Club Frequency. According to General, Deb had promised OJ’s attendance in exchange for advertising in the magazine. “One of the 2009 topics is burning bridges and breaking your word to sell your soul for the almighty dollar,” wrote General. “What’s up to OJ da Juiceman (Chevron Shawty) for keeping the streets on fire in the A and getting to the money. I also want to add that you are a grinder and the streets are loving you but the flip side to that coin is ‘WOW’ when it comes to your management grinding just as hard as you? Debbie we are talking about you so therefore we are not going to do it like the rappers do it by subliminally sneak dissing. You know what I am talking about with the December 10th Club Frequency situation…” General continued addressing OJ later in the editorial, adding, “A rapper can be hot today and glacier frozen like the titanic the next. So have that street/business meeting with your camp and tell them the minute that they lose focus of becoming that fucked up word in the game, that shit follows you no matter what busi-
ness that you are in and people are whispering about it now but they are just keeping shit quiet is kept until they are positioned to voice their say so. Keep getting your money Juice and remember that every move is a calculated step, but your management can lose my number because their word is in the same book as George W Bush (I don’t trust what is being said to me) and for the record, I am not trying to assassinate your character (Debbie) by telling people not to deal with you. Everybody can fuck with you as far as I am concerned but I know not to fuck with you because you lied to me directly and it was not a third party lie. Street Report Magazine doesn’t want any bargains from you. Send over some ad money not a conversation. Aye!” Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of Street Report Magazine’s bad experience when I made a similar deal with Johnnie and Deb in May 2009 to trade an advertising package in OZONE for a free OJ da Juiceman show. After fulfilling our part of the agreement, we here at OZONE shopped around for a venue and finally settled on Club Libra in Atlanta. As the Libra representatives sat in my office prepared to sign the contract, I called Johnnie and Deb to let them know we had secured a location. Johnnie told me that OJ would not perform at Club Libra because they had “issues” with the club. After much discussion I reluctantly agreed to keep looking. Less than three weeks later, a commercial began playing on Atlanta radio for - guess who? - OJ da Juiceman performing live at Club Libra! Rather than giving OZONE the free date we had agreed on, Johnnie apparently went around me and booked the date himself. I suppressed my urge to curse him out, opting instead to try to peacefully resolve the situation. I shopped around for an alternate venue and closed a deal with Freelon’s Nightclub in Jackson, MS, for OJ to perform on August 8th, 2009. Johnnie sent me a signed contract confirming that the OJ show was paid in full as per our advertising agreement. As per the contract, we (OZONE and the promoter) were obligated to pay $3,500 for travel and there were no additional funds due for the show. The promoter wired the travel money to So Icey/Mizay several weeks prior to the show. The contracts were signed by myself, Johnnie, Deb, and the promoter in June. Almost two months later, on the afternoon the day of the show, Johnnie and Deb called me on 3-way demanding that I pay an additional “security fee” of $3,300 or OJ wasn’t going to leave Atlanta – a fee which had never been mentioned or discussed at all during the month and a half that our contract had been in place. It was also never included on our paperwork. OZONE had fulfilled our obligations and now Johnnie and Deb were refusing to fulfill theirs. Deb claimed she didn’t know the Jackson date was my show, pointing the finger at Johnnie and saying it was his fault. I told them I wasn’t going to pay an additional $3,300 for a “free” show and whatever miscommunication had happened was between the two of them, and they needed to figure it out immediately. A few hours later, Johnnie told me, “We worked it out,” saying that he and Deb had settled their miscommunication and OJ’s tour bus was leaving Atlanta, headed for Jackson. At 11 PM the night of the show, as a line of fans eager to see OJ formed at the club, I was still 45 minutes outside the city. OJ’s road manager Big Sam went to Freelon’s and told the club owner that if they didn’t receive $5,500 cash immediately (including $500 overtime for their driver – another additional fee that was never discussed and was not our responsibility) they had been instructed by Johnnie and Deb to leave town immediately. Without $5,500 cash, OJ would not perform at OZONE’s “free” show. So here I was faced with the choice that so many other promoters have had to make: cancel the show, ruin my relationship with the promoter and the promoter’s reputation, and fight Johnnie and Deb in court for $10,000 (the value of the advertising package)? Or move forward and only fight them for $5,500? Similar to the So Icey Tour contracts, the OZONE contract with Johnnie involved multiple parties, so going the legal route would probably also mean suing a long-time client and friend (Freelon’s) because of Johnnie and Deb’s fraud. I later learned that OJ and Big Sam had no idea what was really going on, didn’t know that I was even involved with the show, and were simply following Deb and Johnnie’s instructions.
THE GOOD OL’ DAYS When established artists like T.I. and Lil Wayne first started doing nightclub shows years ago, they were reasonably priced. “They earned their way up the ladder, and they have
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