This is our Statment regarding what happened in Miami with Sazon Booya, Moomba+ and Ourselves as Rot10 Musik.
This official statement press release is intended to clear up any public issues or concerns regarding the future of Sazon Booya, as well as the relationship between Stephen Vasquez (pka DJ SAV) and Rot10 Musik.
Foremost, Stephen Vasquez (pka DJ SAV) is no longer a member of Sazon Booya or the Rot10 Musik family. The incident that took place on Friday evening/Saturday morning in Miami at the Moomba+ promoted event at Eve was the culmination of a series of events involving Mr. Vasquez that both led to his termination and furthermore jeopardized the Sazon Booya and Rot10 Musik brand.
Since the inception of Sazon Booya, Joshua Vega (pka Mr. Vega) has been the sole producer. No music in the Sazon Booya catalog has been produced by Stephen Vasquez. Stephen’s role in the group was always as a videographer and DJ. At the same time, Mr. Vega’s role consisted of being a DJ, producer, graphic artist, handling all social media, EP releases and working as a booking agent as well.
Over the duo’s lifespan, Stephen’s involvement with videography decreased as he handed off duties to Jason Ano, Robert Dume and James Defina. Given that this was one of his duties in the group, this was problematic. Ultimatums were given to Stephen about the balance of duties within Sazon Booya, and he never changed the situation on his end. While in Miami, those existing issues – exacerbated by Stephen’s inability to maintain his responsibilities as a member of not only Sazon Booya, but the Rot10 Musik team – again were exposed, leading to his dismissal.
On Thursday, March 21st, Stephen Vasquez was fired from Sazon Booya and Rot10 Musik, and furthermore, all social media passwords and login information were changed preventing Stephen from accessing the accounts since he was no longer a part of the team.
Regarding the Moomba+ event on Friday, March 22nd, as well as the issues regarding Stephen Vasquez at said event, the entire story must be told.
Rot10 Musik artists Sazon Booya and Kid Cedek were hired to play the event. Both acts were made offers to play but only one was partially honored. Kid Cedek made a verbal agreement with Moomba+ webmaster/site owner Tony Forns for a set price that was lower than his usual rate but was a favor to Mr. Forns and for the benefit of the party and artists involved. As well, Cedek secured corporate product sponsorship and the services of DJ Blass. Just prior to the event, Mr. Forns went back on his agreement, which ended in a less than satisfactory manner for all parties involved. As a result of these actions, Kid Cedek informed Mr. Forns that he would not be playing due to the nature of their communications.
On Friday evening, Rot10 Musik artists Minimaxx, DJ EJ and OMF arrived at the venue to find equipment both faulty and not set up, and were told that set times were being pushed so some people would not be able to play. That being said they waited to get answers as what to do and after less than favorable conversations with Tony Forns, Rot10 Musik pulled itself from the event. Ape Management – Rot10′s business partners – were then alerted that the label’s involvement in the event needed to be cancelled. Mr. Forns was notified, and posts went out on Twitter and Facebook that Rot10 Musik would not be playing the event. The deposit given to Sazon Booya has since been returned to the event’s investors.
Insofar as the “Sazon Booya” set played by Stephen Vasquez at the Moomba+ party – given that it occurred both long after Stephen was fired from Sazon Booya and Rot10 Musik – as well as after Rot10 Musik has cancelled their involvement in the event, it provided cause for alarm. Thus, Sazon Booya’s manager, as well as artists Kid Cedek and Otis Clapp went to the club to ask Stephen to stop playing. Sazon Booya’s manager walked on stage by himself and asked Stephen to stop playing as Sazon Booya because he was fired and no longer a part of the group. When Stephen refused to stop, the manager proceeded to pull out the chords from the mixer and CDJs to stop the music. Stephen then began to alert the crowd to what was happening, and the manager pulled the mic out of his hands to cease the issue. Soon thereafter, tensions were calmed between Stephen and Sazon Booya’s management by on-stage security. Finally, Sazon Booya’s manager, Kid Cedek and Otis Clapp were then asked to leave, and immediately left the premises.
Regarding the above described situation, event promoter Angel Castro states the following: “The cancellation of Rot10 Musik and Sazon Booya was caused due to lack of communication on behalf of Tony Forns and myself. Stephan Vasquez was paid on the date of the event to play as DJ SAV (not Sazon Booya). Stephan Vasquez was not assaulted nor did anyone “destroy” the main stage. The CDJs were disconnected by Stephan’s management so he would stop representing Sazon Booya @ Eve Miami on the night of 3/22/13. Only Otis Clapp, Kid Cedek, and Sazon Booya’s manager were present and the time of incident.”
In an attempt to move past the unfortunate events of the past week, Mr. Vega has planned a release for the fans and supporters of not just his music, but of Sazon Booya and Rot10 Musik who have remained patient during this entire debacle. More information on this FREE, brand new music will be forthcoming in the immediate future.
In Feburary, we annouced that we were holding a remix contest for Rotten Ralphie’s Weekend Starts Tonight track. The Winner of the contest would recieve a pair of Sol Republic headphones along with an Official Release on the Weekend Starts Tonight Remix EP. Without future a do, we’d like to congratulate Hataah on winning the contest! His tropical drums in the intro into a vicious vocal chop for the build, while dropping HARD and going back and forth from a Moombahton style drums to a Nu-Jump style, it was hard to pass up that this is the winning track. The remix EP will be out soon so stay tuned! Check the soundcloud link below!
