Justin Parke

Eek-A-Mouse Vs. The Marley Family

This likely won't be news to any of you folks in JA, but Eek-A-Mouse has a long-running dispute with the Marley family.

🥊 The Root Of The Dispute 🌱

🤵 Khaki Suit 🎙️

I'm not a huge fan of Eek-A-Mouse, Bounty Killer, or Damian Marley, so I only became aware of this song through the news of the Marley & Eek-A-Mouse dispute several years ago.

So, have a quick listen to understand what the focal point of this quarrel is, the song "Khaki Suit" by Damian Marley.

Notice there is no mention of Eek-A-Mouse in the track intro, only Bounty Killer lets you know he's on track. Right off the bat it makes me wonder if this is even the "original recording," although I've never heard Eek discuss whether or not he originally had an intro on the tune.

💰 Where's The Loot For The Suit? 🤷

Okay, you've heard the track "Khaki Suit," now check out this interview with Eek-A-Mouse to see how he frames the situation. If you don't have time to watch this in full, fast forward to 1:00 and/or I will summarize things below.

Eek-A-Mouse recorded "Khaki Suit" on the "Welcome to Jamrock" album with Bounty Killer, and Eek-A-Mouse stated he was given $4,000 USD as "pocket money". He quoted Damian as saying, "If the song hit, we give yuh six figures."

One thing Eek-A-Mouse says that can't be disputed is the success of the single "Khaki Suit" and the album "Welcome To Jamrock." The ultimate thing that this all boils down to is that Eek wasn't given six figures when the song became a hit.

He mentions in the above video, that upon calling to check on his money, he was refused it. Some more time went by, and while he Eek was in Brazil, he said Ziggy Marley said flew down and told Brazilian promoters not to work with him, that he was "banned from reggae".

🚫 Banned From Reggae 🙅‍♂️

Eek-A-Mouse ultimately responded in the most Jamaican dancehall artist way possible, by recording a diss track. The title of the song "Marley Boys Banned Me From Reggae," leaves no mystery as to what the song is about.

👉 You Be The Judge 👨‍⚖️

Eek-A-Mouse isn't the most mentally stable person, in fact he's know for his wild style, but surely if there was proof he was paid more than $4,000 for his work on the track, the Marleys would've made that public information.

As these things go, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. Eek-A-Mouse doesn't have the squeakiest clean of histories either, so I'm far from taking sides on this issue, just reporting.

One thing is for sure, the Marley name and family are mow as corporate as Wal-Mart and Amazon these days, so it doesn't surprise me there may be some greed that's overtaken this family, possibly leading to some poor life choices.