Cali Swag District V. Indie Label

An independent record label owner duped “Teach Me How To Dougie” rap group Cali Swag District into dumping Capitol Records in favor of his label but never paid their $100,000 advance, the group alleges in a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In addition to failing to pay the advance, charging production fees for masters already completed and refusing to market the group’s music, CSD accuses Louis Burrell, NYLA Entertainment and Sphinx Music Entertainment of fraudulently convincing them to terminate a distribution deal with Capitol.

Burrell allegedly convinced the rappers he would use his industry contacts to bring them to national attention and that his labels “were more capable of marketing and distributing Cali Swag District’s sound recordings and albums throughout the world.”

The suit alleges that Burrell became co-manager of the group and convinced it to sign over rights to CSD’s music based on a 50/50 profit sharing deal and the $100,000 advance.

The group made a “recent shocking discovery” that Burrell, NYLA and Sphinx incurred unauthorized expenses related to the group’s debut album, The Kickback, after it had been completed and allegedly fabricated and manipulated expense reports to stall payment of the group’s share of profits, according to the suit.

“Defendants claimed to have expended tens of thousands of dollars in connection with the production of three master sound recordings which had already been completed,” according to the complaint.

Cali Swag District seeks an accounting and damages for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, fraud and misrepresentation.