US rapper The Game ordered by Australian court to pay up$500,000 for cancelled tour

US rapper The Game and his agent have been ordered by an Australian court to pay damages after failing to turn up for concerts.

US Grammy nominated rapper The Game aka Jayceon Taylor and his agent have been ordered by an Australian court to pay more than $500,000 in damages after they never turned up for “a fake tour” Down Under.

And a judge has blasted the gangsta rapper from Compton and his team for their “highhanded and dismissive” attitude toward the Australian judiciary in a case which it can now be revealed had third parties seeking to “influence” the court.

In its lengthy judgment, the Federal Court has offered up some surprising insight into the murky world of rap music, tours, promoters and third party hanger-oners each attempting to get a piece of the lucrative music dollar pie.

Game, real name Jayceon Terrell Taylor in concert. Picture: Getty

The 41-year-old rapper, best known for his collaborations with 50 Cent and Lil Wayne, was in September 2017 expected to perform five headline shows in Australia and two in New Zealand in what was being billed as “his last ever” tour.

His agent Cash Jones from Fifth Amendment Entertainment agreed to shows in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney with The Game to be paid US$25,000 ($A32,088) per show with appearance fees for after parties as discussions were had for two further performances in Canberra and Cairns.

But The Game pulled out after a series of bizarre demands for him and his “crew” of 15 culminating in suggestions Australian promoters Tour Squad pay US$2.5 million ($A3.21 million) for a film documentary they wanted to make.

Jayceon Terrell Taylor pictured as celebrities party at the VIP Room in Dubai, UAE. Picture: Bancroft Media

Justice Roger Derrington ruled that while the tour agreement had been poorly drafted, the respondents Taylor, Cash and Fifth Amendment were liable for it not going ahead with damages costed at $478,119.73 plus interest of $78,508.08 as well as court costs incurred by Tour Squad.

Part of the problem with the agreement was other than a US$15,000 “binder agreement” to even agree to talk about a tour, much of the negotiations were being done via text message or WhatsApp with no real paper trail for agreed payments.

This included apparent beliefs The Game had settled on US$25,000 ($A32,100) a show but later upped by his agent to US$40,000 ($A51,340) a show plus US$15,000 ($A19,250) for after-party appearances, all hospitality riders for him and a 15-person “crew” as well as unspecified payments toward his film project.

The Billboard chart topper – whose hits included ‘Hate it or Love It’ and ‘How We Do’, featuring 50 Cent, and multi-platinum album The Documentary — had claimed to his more than eight million Facebook fans the tour was “fake” and Tour Squad was “janky”.

Taylor has previously been refused a visa to enter Australia.

US rapper The Game performs on stage in concert at Luna Park on August 8, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Don Arnold/WireImage

But one of the more telling aspects of Justice Derrington’s more than 15,000 word judgment, not including annexes, was her postscript about the conduct and behaviour of all parties including Tour Squad and its directors Luisa Spedaliere and Justin Bellamy as well as Taylor and Cash and others. For particular mention was Tour Squad’s Entertainment Law and Consultancy solicitor, Khalid Tarabay, and his preparation of affidavits for the directors which suggested collusion. The lawyer then began inappropriately ringing the judge’s chambers attempting to find out when judgments were to be delivered as well as “highly improper” attempts to provide new material.

“There was a similar attempt by a representative of one or more of the respondents (Taylor and Cash) representatives to communicate with and, apparently, to influence the Court,” the judge concluded.

“This does not lessen the impropriety of Mr Tarabay’s communications and I consider his communications to be a more serious matter as they were made by an Australian legal practitioner.”