09/13/2025
It is alleged that Joe Rattobali the bandleader of New York Rats released at least 2 singles that were 100% AI content yet didnt tell people it was all AI.
Those releases were prior to me ever meeting him or being in the band. I was not there when he put his songs together at that time so IDK. What I can say is that since I joined New York Rats in 2024 I submitted lyrics to Joe for: Basta, Gem (aka Tourmaline), Like A Rug, The Handwasher, Raging Red, VaVaVoom, and Vow. All those lyrics along with any basic melody I hummed to him via voice clip or phone call (as i cannot read or write music).. except for 2 songs (VaVaVoom and Like A Rug)... were derivative work from poems or short stories I wrote myself with NO AI involved... that were already published in a book, journal, church circular, school or community paper or online.
The earliest one releaaed The Handwasher is from 1987. The latest one was Gem in 2023 or 2024. At no time was AI used. I have my own handwritten drafts to prove it.
Once a poem or story is printed someplace for the public to read it is already a copyrighted item... but i also registered my stuff MYSELF with the US Copyrights Office. Or the person who compiled the book or literary magazine registered the copyrights. Most of the lyrics I gave Joe were thus already copyrighted material. They were just printed up as poems or stories rather than songs.
Joe ADAPTED my songs to music based on some of my suggestions. We then physically went into the studio in person with actual musicians and practiced and as we did so we changed riffs choruses bridges chords keys etc. Live and in person. My vocals are from my natural voicebox. No autotunes. No AI.
When we had a sound we liked we played the songs at gigs first ACOUSTIC at OPEN MICS with NO ENHANCEMENTS at all in front of HUNDREDS of people.
Then I went in person with the band members I brought into NY Rats personally to a reputable recording studio. With a reputable engineer. I sang my stuff on a mic with the voicebox God gave me. No AI no autotunes. I recorded .. two times each... with my own voice.. the vocals for 3 songs: Outta My Head, Basta, and The Handwasher. In that order.
The last 2 songs I WROTE and the basic melody subgenre and vibe I put in... with zero AI involved. The masters were brought to another reputable engineer for mixing. Other than reverb (echo) repetition and doubling which are NOT AI but are techniques used by sound engineers when mixing records since John Lennon in the 60s... no other enhancements of any kind were, to my knowledge and belief, added to my vocals. Again -- I have sung Handwasher and Basta ACOUSTIC and live at Open Mics in front of hundreds of people prior to the tracks being released and clearly its my same voice.
Notably I and a friends clips singing the songs I wrote live and the 2 releases that are derivative works stemming from my poetry and melody suggestions (Basta and Handwasher)... which do not use AI... are not being posted or promoted as much if at all by Mr Rattoballi. He is only promoting the teo songs people suspect were composed via AI and that he gets 100 percent copyrights etc to.
Which.. is his perogative ENTIRELY -- especially since I chose to leave the band on or about August 26 after citing a lack of trust and a repeated disrespect for my personal and professional boundaries as wrll as a breach of contract that left me in debt with venues and other artists.
The band only recently used my childhood friend's acoustic version/vocals for Back To The Rehab Again to try to make it seem as if said friend was the original vocalist on the track that critucs are saying was 100% AI content. We only began performing the single live after I grilled him on why we never saw a live version of the song or had it on our live set list if that was the song his band was famous in other countries for PRIOR to me joining it. After a lot of deflection and attempts to make me look like a bully for insisting on a straight answer, Joe claimed his reluctance to doing the song live at gigs was due to an emotional block as the song was about his recovery from drug addiction. But I do not at this time feel that was entirely true. It was only very recently in or about late July/early August 2025 that Joe admitted to a band member in front of me and in passing during one of our practice sessions, that the vocal tracks on Back To The Rehab are entirely AI.
I didnt put my friend in there to cover up anything dishonest. We did not know. I just felt that my buddy from high school would do better on vocals for that sing as he has the same grit in his voice as on the track and as its a song was already heard by audiences worldwide with a male lead vocal. So I shared the spotlight with my friend.
I began discovering other inconsistencies and was demonized in front of and alienated from my friends when I pushed for clear honest direct adult answers from not only Joe but my "friends".
When I came into the band in late December 2024 ... Joe had over 30 plus songs already written etc with music that he says he composed with real instruments other than drums and vocals on Garage Band. (Many people who compose use drum tracks and add the actual drums etc later. Each drummer brings his own vibe no two drumjers play the same). I have never seen anything to prove OR belie his claims as to how he composed the music. I can repeat what was told to me when I asked.. and I can only speak for and am only accoubtable for own my content and creative contribution.
The songs I myself wrote, completed and released ... are again derived from my non AI songwriting. My poems were the foundation of those particular songs in a band that Joe stressed was lyric heavy and very vocal/storyteller based. Only once did Joe ever suggest a live jam studio session where the band would play music and I would write lyrucs in the studio simultaneously with them during said jam. I offered no objection to such an arrangement. No such simultaneous songwriting session ever occurred as it was never scheduled by the bandleader. Offers from me and ither babd members to jam at other studios so we could defray costs and have more session time which would let us do more free jam time to write songs together rather than just do songs Joe pre wrote ... were rejected by the bandleader.
So none of us can truthfully say we ever sat down with Joe and SAW him compose a song organically. That still doesn't prove he never did so.
I am being blamed for what another person allegedly did that may have been dishonest LONG PRIOR to me ever even being in the band. And those doing most of the defamation were in the band prior to me and unlike me KNEW AI was used etc and said not one peep about it to the public until after they were caught red handed trying to steal Basta and I sent them a cease and desist notice via email with my lawyer copied on it to protect my 100% non AI lyrics and other content. It was non AI enough to try to steal!
Joe then fired the whole band but I asked if I got another lineup of studio musicians if he would do ONE gig as it was to support a charity important to me (RAINN) and we were already advertised publicly as the opening act. We were to debut a song I wrote specifucally to help the charity which I am a former client of since the 1990s... and a current locally known advocate for. He agreed to work with me to still do the benefit gig.
We paid a session drummer to do ONE GIG. The prior drummer texted me saying he quit and mocking me saying hope your benefit goes well - and he had another gig the same night in another part of NYC so there was a scheduling issue anyway hence the sub drummer - FOR ONE GIG. The drummer who played that gig is a studio or session guy and never came in with the intention of being on the band's permanent lineup. So the allegation that Joe and I fired the drummer is a lie. He quit after being caught trying to steal Basta and after I said since there was a scheduling conflict and we couldn't cancel the gig or move the date of a benefit for a nationally known charity just get a sub for the night. He acted liked a scorned spouse at the very idea of a sub for ONE gig it was totally off the charts toxic.
We also brought in someone I have sung with since the age of 13 to do lead guitar, and another guitarist I met when jamming for a prior crew was brought in as rhythm guitar. All were paid but me and Joe and one guitarist declined pay so those funds were given to the charity (RAINN). All were told our focus was just to do the gig as promised, and then dissolve the band. However the show went so well that the bandleader changed his mind and kept it going. Those who were ok with staying, stayed. Those who did not, left.
I am tired of the libel, slander, defamation, cowardly FB drama and threats of harm to my family from these former bandmembers. I am tired of being interogated about my personal life etc based on hearsay Karen gossip and trolls. I am here to do the music. Not to get validation or consent to live my life however others think I should based on whatever they heard about me that they know little to nothing about and that I did not ask for their opinion on or assistance with. My children and how I raise them (they are actually young adults ages 18 and up) are not band business. Neither is my alleged s*x life or lack thereof. Neither is my real or perceived religion, my real or perceived mental health diagnosis, etc. I don't like to feel like I am under surveillance scrutiny or observation from people who are "better" or "know what's best for me" when I am here to make music. I also like to feel that if I DO share something it is not going to be known all over the tri state area in a matter of hours. if I wanted it to be on the emergency broadcast sytem I would broadcast it myself. I am not ashamed of my life but I value my privacy and boundaries were not respected - repeatedly. When I set them and stuck to them I was demonized. But I was expected to respect other people's limits in what was clearly a gross double standard.
These disgruntled former band members are blaming me for what JOE not I allegedly did to them that they feel was unfair. I was silent at first but now I am taking time to gather records and take actual legal action against anyone currently trying to rip me off, who are filing false or misleadjng reoorts as a firm if harassment, who are trying to get me wrongfully blackballed for what I had NO part in (but that they knew of and had a hand in before I was ever in the band) and letting the judge sort everyone out and also figure out who is paying me damages and how much. Off with all your heads!
The people defaming me and my friends are jealous people with an unhealtgy competitive streak who had known Joe Rattoballi for years and KNEW about the AI when no I and the current lineup of the band other than Joe DID NOT KNOW about that, and were not any part of it. These men apparently had NO PROBLEM with AI back then... playing along with tracks and no drummer... but theyve all suddenly became the champions of artistic integrity and strict adherent to what they say are union rules after trying to literally steal BASTA out from under me (caught red handed), promoting nonunion jobs at nonunion shops (including pay to play gigs), lying like a rug about their association with key industry people and celebrities in our scene (who I do know but they do not and who say to me thst they do not know them), after impersonating celebrities, members of their entourages or their legal teams in burner accounts online etc... and after they either sent texts saying they quit or Joe removed them. Something that was not my doing, as its Joe's band. I helped manage the band but it's his band and his call. Not mine.
All of a sudden it's now sour grapes and they are the champions of "real punk" when NONE of them are punk rockers or from our scene. And I who just got there was suddenly at fault, the scapegoat for years of band dynamics that I was never part of, knew nothing of, and that allegedly involve people/prior vocalists I never met and do not even know.
My songs are real. Based on my direct life experiences. I have won awards and scholarships for writing. I ran bilingual poetry nights in college. I was mentored by Nuyorican spoken word poets. I recited my work at shows and political rallies at Columbia and Barnard College where I was a member of Alpha Delta Phi Literary Society. I have had my stuff actually published since I was 16 years old. My family my pastors my teachers my friends my kids my professors and many of my fellow activists in Brooklyn in NYCs Loisada in Harlem and in Bronx know this. Theyve witnessed it.
I cannot say either way what Joe released that was or was not AI prior to me being in his band. What I can say is that of the 3 songs released this August 2025... 2 of them are derivative work from and adaptations of my own copyrighted material that I myself used no AI whatsoever to create. I was told the riffs initially composed were composed on Garage Band with an actual guitar not AI. If that is untrue I have yet to see any actual evidence proving otherwise.
He did use AI to give me an idea of the vocal phrasing but the melodies for my songs I often hummed out and he ran with it. So theyre not based in AI. To my understanding there are over 40 songs. Mine are listed above. Only 2 of them were released. And in those two the vocals were not AI as my natural voice was used for them. You can hear my Brooklyn accent on the demos. Because I am all ear and cannot read music I audio taped almost every single practice. You can hear how the song progresses and changes from start to finish .. IN THE STUDIO with LIVE musicians. As the coauthor of the songs I have half the copyright interest and ownership and may (using legal terminology) "exploit" the song absent consent as long as I kick back royalties etc. as appropriate.
I have taken NOTHING from anyone. Not one penny and not one iota of anyone's creative content.
I was trained to be a busker. I was forbidden by who trained me to busk to even use mics. I am all guts and ear and a learning disorder prevents me from being able to read or write any music - and I stand in the company of every single member of Black Sabbath, Ali Campbell of UB40, most of the Beatles and many other artists who changed how music is defined for the entire world. I could give two sh*ts whether certain people think I can sing or not. Tell it to Johnny Rotten - tell it to Elvis who was told he couldn't sing either. Punks do not do that either - tell people what is or is not music or art or use corporate industry standards to create heirarchy and judgment and exclusion in the arts - thats not our way either. If you don't dig my vocals don't listen. Leave the show. Come back after the set. I don't need your permission or your validation and not everyone feels as you do. So those who are cool with me are cool and will be at the show. Those who don't dig my sound or my vibe won't be there. Such is life.
I've had to be reminded to sing into the mic by many bandleaders because its my trained habit to avoid the mic. I am not tech savvy and do not even know how to use AI or Photoshop to make an event flyer... i have had to hire people to do that for me. Many music people have witnessed this. I have trouble with thumb text messaging ... I need you to sing or hum or play the note no clue wtf EGBDF is and a circle of fifths is a drinking game to me. Seeing that about me - people REALLY think its true that I allegedly know how to write music with AI technology??? Seriously? I didnt know wtf Chat GPT was until a month ago when someone using it for research to set up their strategic business plans with showed it to me. I still can't figure that out. It frightens me. It reminds me of horror movie where the automated house TED killed everyone. I shut off the hey google thing my kid had in the basement. I do not like inanimate objects talking back to me. But we think I use AI to create entire songs??
The attempt to blackball me via defamation and libel that crosses state lines is now well documented. Folks are about to make me a very rich woman. I am tired of it and I am dead serious and not playing games. Continue this way and do not be shocked when the process server shows up at your house to hand you a summons to FEDERAL court as your cyberbullying crosses state lines. Threaten my kids again and its a federal criminal rather than a civil matter. I AM DEAD SERIOUS. And those involved know who they are.
If you have a beef with Joe you keep me out of it. If you have a beef with me you keep him out if it. We are 2 separate grown people with free agency.
And my kids are OFF LIMITS. Cross the line with respect to my kids and you will find out very quickly that you have made a grave and irreversible mistake.
Whoever is on my "Friends" list sharing certain of my posts in DMs to people I cut contact with and on private FB page I have no access to in order defend myself at.... SHARE THIS^^^. And btw I have a hacktivist working on getting your urls and exact location to prove its you in court. It'll take a few months but justice is gonna get served. COLD.
