(AllHipHop News) Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth is striking back at local radio station 97.9 KBXX, The Box, claiming executives from the station have unfairly banned his music and interfered with his relationships with other executives.
Trae is filing the lawsuit in 189th District Court of Harris County, naming Radio One, KBXX’s general manager Doug Abernathy, program manager Terri Thomas and personality Nnete Inyangumia.
Trae claims that he was unfairly banned from the station after a July 2009 shootout erupted at “Trae Day,” that injured eight teen agers.
According to the lawsuit Trae was banned after Inyangumia accused him of causing the violence.
"I would not have filed a lawsuit, but when other people started being hurt by this ban, I knew I had to stand up,” Trae said in a statement released today (May 4th). "I just could not let any more people suffer and be punished by the radio station over this ridiculous vendetta."
The lawsuit also claims that the station even suspended a staff member for a week, because he made a mixtape outside of work, featuring Trae’s music, while another one was fired for accidentally playing a song by Chamillionaire that featured a verse from Trae.
Trae also claims a song and video by rapper 6tre Gangsta was scrapped, after representatives for KBXX told 6tre’s reps that any song featuring Trae would not be aired,.
The rapper has hired Houston attorney Warren Fitzgerald Jr. to represent him in the case.
Even Rap-A-Lot Records’ CEO James Prince weighed in on the ban, which has impacted an upcoming deal between Trae and the legendary Houston label.
“I had been excited about being involved with the next Trae album, but with this ban taking place, not only in his home town, but likely also in the second best place for airplay, which is Dallas, it would be impossible to promote the album. This ban is sabotaging his career, because those cities are the foundation for breaking his records.”
Prince added: “Having run a record label for over twenty years, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
According to Fitzgerald, KBXX and Radio One have gone “beyond the parameters of legally sanctioned activity” by banning Trae’s music and interfering with his career.
“I find this behavior repulsive, especially for a radio station that daily champions itself as music artists ‘best friend,” Fitzgerald said.
Trae is suing for damages to his reputation, mental suffering, performance revenue, royalties and other damages.
A preliminary hearing is set for May 14, 2010 at 1:30 pm.
Source: AllHipHop
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