The “Death” of Elbee Bad
UPDATE: This post was unintentionally public on our site when it is still a work in progress, but it has been referenced by CDM now, so we will leave it up as we finish it. Also, since this article began being written, Lamont Booker has actually recently passed in a strange and unironic twist of fate, at the start of June, as confirmed by his room mate and colleagues.
The title of this piece is both an entirely true statement and a wholly misleading lie. eLBee BaD — the late 80s house music alias and identity — is dead, as per its creator, Lamont Booker, who is still alive and kicking. This may come as a shock if you were exposed to the recent wave of rumors and fake news spread across social media and pushed by prominent dance music magazines while accepted as fact and amplified by the rest of the industry. The rest are probably thinking, “Well, of course he is alive, why would I assume he’s dead?”
What lead to his demise is a symptom of everything wrong with the fast paced online information environment and how it propels the constant spread of misinformation. In typical fashion, the news of a beloved house artist’s death made much more of a stir than the celebration of their work while they’re alive, except here we actually have a chance to correct that record. What should be a cautionary tale, seems to have just blown by without any remedy or much additional thought. Keep in mind, the story that follows is still from an outsider’s perspective, as I do not personally know Lamont Booker. Only he can speak to what really went down and, thankfully, he lives to do so.
The “news” that eLBee BaD had died first came across my feed on the evening of March 31st. My heart sank and I thought, “Another one, how can this be?” You see, I, like I’m sure many others, have a heightened sensitivity to death during this time. From a purely mathematical standpoint, there is simply more of it as the world grapples with a deadly global pandemic. Most of has have experienced a loss close to us. I know I was not alone in mourning the death of Mike Huckaby, who was tragically taken from us very early on due to the virus, as he was loved by and such a huge influence on so many in the electronic music world. Similarly, a lot of that same community also joined in a final farewell to Orlando based producer, DJ, and Finale Sessions label owner Michael Zucker, who lost his battle with cancer. In my local music community, we’ve lost others to sudden heart attacks and suicides. It’s been devastating and relentless, to the point that any death can feel triggering.
I began to have doubt and disbelief, even if this was selfish and just maybe for my own personal sake. I considered that the date placed it in the range of April Fool’s day shenanigans, but surely someone’s death is not to be made light of? Clearly this could not be some kind of joke, but as I looked into the information provided that was being relied on, it did not pass the smell test for truth either. The sole source seemed to be a confusing and rambling Facebook post on eLBee BaD’s artist page dated March 19th. It stated that on “March 9th, 2021 Mr. BaD left the planet.” A quick look revealed he had posted new music since then, as well as multiple times on an alternative page that featured many fringe COVID-19 topics. Going back a few entries earlier on his main page, there were two posts that painted a clearer picture, beginning with a poem-like text image showing an obvious dissatisfaction with pandemic life and the delineation that “The Artist eLBee BaD has left the planet,” referencing the same previous March 9 date, followed by another photo that featured a tomb stone with eLBee BaD atop the years 1988–2021. Now, I was not born yesterday and certainly it is obvious neither was Lamont Booker born in 1988, but he did begin releasing records then under the exact alias L.B. Bad. Returning back to the mid-March post that would become the sole basis of all the misinformation circulating around his death, it stated towards the end that eLBee BaD was “survived by L.B. GooD, The Nervous DJ, Mad Man in the Attic, The VooDoo Man.” Piecing it all together, it became much more likely to me that this was an identity crisis, the death of an alias due to COVID-19 times. Perhaps a new one for all of us in terms of how this message was delivered, but also a welcome relief.
So how did we get here? When Daft Punk announced the duo’s end a month earlier that February through a cinematic video titled “Epilogue,” dance music media didn’t run with, “Thomas Bangalter dies in assisted suicide by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.” That would’ve been ridiculous. Apparently elaborate artistic identities are reserved for Parisians in robot costumes riffing on Black music. Media across the board is known for different coverage and treatment based on racial biases. If looking for greater meaning behind this snafu, one critical interpretation could be that the moment a Black artist ceases to turn out music and provide creative capital, they lose any human value and are as good as dead to these gatekeepers.
It’s important to establish the timeline of the death becoming a misguided reality. In the early morning hours of March 31st, weeks after the aforementioned series of posts, a Twitter user by the name of berlinbeaner tweeted at the most known dance music outlets asking why these online publications weren’t covering the passing of “Lamont Booker aka Elbee Bad aka The Prince of Dance Music.” The situation he had crafted in his head was, understandably, an upsetting one, but also completely dubious. The sole source (and everyone else’s thereafter) of his claim was a personal interpretation of that confusing Facebook post. Our messenger here is not to blame though. This was a misunderstanding and a honest mistake. Besides, most people would not simply take the assertion of a random stranger on the internet as fact. While it is our responsibility to be considerate in our words and always make an effort to ensure the information we receive and share is accurate and truthful, your average person is not expected to act as a verified source. That expectation would fall on the media, who are supposed to maintain a certain level of journalistic integrity.
Later that day, Resident Advisor took the bait, XLR8R followed a day after, and as late as April 28th, the artist’s Discogs’ profile still showed “Died march (sic) 9th 2021” according to a Google cache. RIP’s poured in from large brands like Boiler Room and NTS Radio, alongside posts from DJs big and small. It was sad to see the entire industry so susceptible to a misinformation campaign. At that point, beanerberlin admitted he had no clue what was going on, but by then it was already too late. Yet this admission is still more than what any of the outlets have given us, where basic professionalism would have involved further investigation and finding a credible source, rather than simply accepting this interpretation at face value and running with it.
I certainly didn’t. As the process of questioning what was being fed to me shows, a simple precursory look into other recent posts by the artist would’ve put everything into perspective. These outlets failed to do any of their due diligence and turned the death of eLBee BaD, an identity and alias, into the death of Lamont Booker, the human being. I commented about this on their article, while multiple others also shared information casting doubt. The next morning Resident Advisor had unceremoniously, and without mentioning, deleted their article and XLR8R would be fast to follow. Common decency and a minimum of journalistic integrity would call for a correction to the piece and an update to the public of their error. Instead, these publications have tried to hide what is obviously an embarrassment to them. All the public is left with is deleted articles, tweets, and the misguided assumption another house artist is dead. With Resident Advisor existing as the largest online electronic music platform, it is sad this is the best we get.
You would think Resident Advisor would be on high alert when it comes to proving their value and integrity considering they were widely criticized during the pandemic for their acceptance of a £750,000 government grant from the Culture Recovery Fund meant to support arts and cultural institutions. Many artists themselves weighed in seeing this as a misuse of funds, believing RA to be nothing more than a middleman and reducing their cultural contributions to that of a glorified ticket seller service. A spokesperson for the Arts Council stated in their justification RA’s role in “supporting artists and other organisations that rely on them as a source of income.”
“Wait, I thought this whole thing was supposed to be about eLBee BaD?” Stick with me, as there’s a lot to unpack here. The irony is not lost when turning the focus back to Lamont Booker, who on April 15th shared another 3rd person post from a friend, stating his humbleness in not wanting to make a big deal out of his struggles or ask for donations and pleading with people to buy his latest record, “Amongst the Chaos We Chilling” under the alias LaRhon. Foreshadowing what was to come its closing argument was, “Could save a life long so called famos (sic) starving artist from being a starving & homeless artist *or worser.” Eventually, a GoFundMe was created with posts sharing it on June 7th and June 16th. And what about the platform whose grant was justified as an organization that artists could rely on for income during this difficult time? Was there any coverage or amplification? They were nowhere to be found. Even in their propagation of his death, they shared only a RA Exchange, from which they generate plays and more cultural capital, not places to buy his music or a link to the GoFundMe, both of which would probably help support his grieving family in such an event since artists don’t often participate in benefits like end of life plans.
Resident Advisor has also faced years of criticism about a lack of diversity in staffing and a Eurocentric view that has often lead to a whitewashing in coverage that overlooked the many important contributions of dance music’s Black originators and current creators. In the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, they addressed their shortcomings and committed to do better, joining the ranks of many other corporate entities responding through inclusion and diversity commitments. Albeit a bit dramatic, one could argue that in this recent mishap they were one step closer to unwittingly killing off Black artists, falsifying the record and effectively erasing one of them. This further shows their disconnect from the community they purport to cover, that they had no one on staff who was aware of Lamont Booker’s eccentricities or at least knew someone close to the artist who they could reach out to for clarification and confirmation.
The hope for his fans should be that, in the same way that any character in some fictional narrative (like in comic books) might be killed off temporarily only to be brought back in some crazy plot twist, the same is true here. The turn of events in this narrative seems to be much more obvious, the end of the current coronavirus crisis, which is certain, although the path leading there may still murky. Many lamented about him never getting his comeuppance, with one Twitter user stating, “Very sad that LB Bad died without ever getting the credit (or probably money) he deserved.”
The demise of eLBee BaD has clearly been festering in the year since this pandemic completely changed the lives of musicians and DJs, as well as so many others, around the world. The global, national, and local responses, as well as our relegation to digital alternatives has left a bad taste in the mouths of many. Lamont Booker is hardly alone, as similar sentiments have been shared from artists far and wide like US DJ Pierre or the currently Australia based Steve Spacek — mind you these are not the best or most prominent examples, nor an exhaustive list, simply others I’ve noticed. Artists are often rebellious, fringe thinkers by nature and some quite eccentric, which anybody following Booker for any length of time would’ve understood about him.
Lamont Booker is The Prince of Dance Music. This is not just a moniker, but something he embodies. He lives and breathes dance music. It has lead to him being prolific as a producer. Likewise, clubbing was a way of life to him as a DJ and dancer.
What started as an attempt to be positive, sharing Sterling Void & Paris Brightledge “It’s Alright” with the caption “Yup, always looking to the positivez!!” the funny, sharing The Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” and saying we “still got more party-ing 2 do!” and the encouraging, his own “Just Don’t Stop the Dance.” It progressed to a bit darker, like sharing Chris Korda’s “Save the Planet Kill Yourself.” To making and releasing music like “We Ain’t Going Out Like That” featuring a stick figure wielding a spear with the coronavirus at another. A third person post asking for help…
