Chau Nguyen's 11 News report

Rap is big business in Houston. And record studio owner Ronnie Bookman wants to make the rapper JV a star.

He also wants to make a name for himself.

“It's a good time for me to jump in the ring and see what's happening with it,” said Bookman.

However, the aspiring record producer said the industry's fierce competition can also be violent.

He has pictures to prove it.

11 News

A Houston rap producer claims rival record label owner had him beat up.

My nose is broken. I got some eye injury that's going to require surgery,” he said while holding out photos of his face after a recent beating.

Those injuries, Bookman said, happened at a local recreation center in January.

He said that is when he met with James Prince, the owner of local record label Rap-a-Lot Records.

Bookman claims Prince's friends beat him “It's very competitive and it's got a lot to do with money and power,” said Bookman.

Bookman is now suing Prince and his label claiming it is trying to "eliminate competition" in the Houston rap and hip hop business through the use of "threats intimidation and violence."

“And it's just not right to give somebody a beating when you don't like what they're doing,” said Bookman’s attorney John Thomas.

Bookman believes Rap-a-Lot Records wants to keep people like him from getting a piece of the record producing business.

In a music genre known for its graphic language and violence rap's, toughness appears to be also playing out behind the scenes.

Prince released the following statement: "Through my years in the music industry, I've been falsely accused and sued by man, which none of them were successful. I guess this is a new season where drug dealing rats and parasite lawyers are out to extort from me. If anyone with good sense would pull this guy Ronnie Bookman's record, they would see how bad his credibility stinks. The true facts will be revealed in a court of law."