Salt-N-Pepa sue record label to reclaim rights to their recordings including 'Push It'

Salt-N-Pepa are telling their grounds statement not to propulsion it arsenic they combat for the rights to their music.

The groundbreaking duo down hip-hop classics including 1983's “Shoop” and 1987's “Push It” accidental successful a suit that Universal Music Group is violating copyright instrumentality by refusing to hold to crook implicit the rights to their maestro recordings.

Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton filed the suit successful national tribunal successful New York connected Monday asserting that the copyright enactment of 1976, which says that aft respective decades artists tin terminate erstwhile agreements and reclaim ownership of their recordings, intelligibly present applies to them.

The fight, which has led to UMG pulling Salt-N-Pepa's euphony from streaming services, comes arsenic galore artists with beloved legacies are making lucrative income of their catalogs, portion others get stuck successful classical record-label battles implicit aged contracts.

“UMG has indicated that it volition clasp Plaintiffs’ rights hostage adjacent if it means tanking the worth of Plaintiffs’ euphony catalogue and depriving their fans of entree to their work,” the suit says.

UMG representatives did not instantly respond to an email seeking comment.

The suit suggests that situations similar Salt-N-Pepa's are the precise crushed the proviso of the copyright enactment exists. It allows artists who made deals “at the opening of their careers” erstwhile they were comparatively powerless to usage the taste lasting and philharmonic bequest they aboriginal established.

The suit says James and Denton filed to terminate their statement nether the instrumentality successful 2022, “eager to retake afloat ownership of their creation and legacy,” but that, “Inexplicably, UMG has refused to honor” their rights.

James and Denton accidental that by law, they should present beryllium capable to ain aboriginal recordings including those from their 1986 debut album, “Hot, Cool & Vicious,” and 1987's “Push It,” a B-side whose remix caught connected and became their breakthrough hit.

They accidental different recordings should legally beryllium theirs aboriginal this twelvemonth and successful 2026, including the 1993 medium “Very Necessary,” which includes “Shoop” and “Whatta Man.”

The duo is seeking some existent damages for wealth mislaid and punitive damages successful amounts to beryllium determined for UMG’s actions. The suit says existent damages could “well transcend $1 million.” They besides privation a imperishable injunction confirming their rights to the recordings.

They said by pulling the songs from streaming and different commercialized platforms, the statement has “maliciously punished” Salt-N-Pepa “for daring to asseverate their rights.”

The label's lawyers said successful letters included arsenic exhibits successful the suit that they person encouraged mediation and privation to scope a “mutually acceptable resolution.”

But the UMG lawyers said successful the letters that James and Denton were not adjacent personally parties successful the 1986 statement that covered their archetypal albums, and determination is nary grounds that they granted the statement copyright that they tin present reclaim.

UMG maintains that the recordings were “works made for hire,” which would not let for the reclaiming of rights. Salt-N-Pepa's suit says the women's agreements with the statement marque it precise wide that they were not.

The Queens, New York, duo of James and Denton became Salt-N-Pepa successful 1985. They were aboriginal joined by DJ Spinderella, who was not portion of the aboriginal agreements nether quality and is not progressive successful the lawsuit.

“Salt-N-Pepa boldly changed the look of rap and hip-hop,” the suit says. “They were not acrophobic to speech astir enactment and to stock their thoughts astir men. Their dependable recordings ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ and ‘None of Your Business,’ for example, were immense hits. They talked candidly astir women’s sexuality and empowerment erstwhile specified topics were frowned upon, heavy criticized, and called taboo.”

In 1995 they became the archetypal pistillate rap radical to triumph a Grammy, and successful 2021, they received a Grammy beingness accomplishment award.

Later this twelvemonth they'll go members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame erstwhile they person the organization's Musical Influence Award.

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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report.

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