Photo credit: Portroids.com
Legendary hip-hop group The Sugar Hill Gang, along with r’n'b veterans The Moments and the executors of the Sylvia Robinson Estate, have filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group over unpaid royalties dating back to 1969.
All Hip-Hop have copies of the lawsuit, which was filed in The Supreme Court of the State of New York and claims that Universal have “ignored agreements with the Sugar Hill label [run by Sylvia Robinson, with her husband Joe], some of which date back as far as 1969, when the company … was known as All Platinum Inc”. Artists on the label included Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, as well as the Sugar Hill Gang themselves.
It’s far from the first dispute that the Sugar Hill Gang have been involved in of late: AHH also report that “the group has been fighting to recover royalties [from 'Rappers Delight'] since at least 2008, when they sued Sugar Hill Records, claiming Joseph Robinson lied on contracts to take control of their name”.
Sylvia Robinson, “the mother of hip-hop”, sadly died last year. The Sugar Hill Gang are currently working on their first album since 1999.