Salt-N-Pepa sue record label to reclaim rights to…
Salt-N-Pepa are telling their record label not to push it as they combat for the rights to their music.
The groundbreaking duo behind hip-hop classics, including 1993’s “Shoop” and 1987’s “Push It” says in a lawsuit that Universal Music Group is violating copyright law by refusing to agree to flip over the rights to their grasp recordings.
Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton filed the lawsuit in federal court in New York on Monday, asserting that the Copyright Act of 1976, which says that after a number of many years artists can terminate earlier agreements and reclaim possession of their recordings, clearly now applies to them.
Sandra Denton and Cheryl James of Salt-N-Pepa attend the Room to Read 2025 New York Gala on May 13, 2025, in New York City. Getty Images for Room to Read
The combat, which has led to UMG pulling Salt-N-Pepa’s music from streaming companies, comes as many artists with beloved legacies are making profitable gross sales of their catalogs, while others get caught in basic record-label battles over previous contracts.
“UMG has indicated that it will hold Plaintiffs’ rights hostage even if it means tanking the value of Plaintiffs’ music catalogue and depriving their fans of access to their work,” the swimsuit says.
UMG representatives didn’t immediately reply to an electronic mail looking for remark.
The lawsuit suggests that conditions like Salt-N-Pepa’s are the very purpose the availability of the copyright act exists.
It permits artists who made offers “at the beginning of their careers” when they have been comparatively powerless to use the cultural standing and musical legacy they later established.
The swimsuit says James and Denton filed to terminate their settlement under the law in 2022, “eager to retake full ownership of their art and legacy,” but that, “Inexplicably, UMG has refused to honor” their rights.
Denton, DJ Spinderella, and James (from left to proper), attended a ceremony honoring Salt-N-Pepa with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Nov. 4, 2022, in Los Angeles. Invision
James and Denton say that by law, they need to now have the option to own early recordings, including those from their 1986 debut album, “Hot, Cool & Vicious,” and 1987’s “Push It,” a B-side whose remix caught on and grew to become their breakthrough hit.
They say different recordings ought to legally be theirs later this 12 months and in 2026, including the 1993 album “Very Necessary,” which incorporates “Shoop” and “Whatta Man.”
The duo is looking for both precise damages for money misplaced and punitive damages in quantities to be decided for UMG’s actions. The swimsuit says precise damages might “well exceed $1 million.”
The groundbreaking duo behind hip-hop classics says in a lawsuit that Universal Music Group is violating copyright law by refusing to agree to flip over the rights to their grasp recordings. Getty Images for Room to Read
They also need a everlasting injunction confirming their rights to the recordings.
They stated by pulling the songs from streaming and different industrial platforms, the label has “maliciously punished” Salt-N-Pepa “for daring to assert their rights.”
The label’s legal professionals stated in letters included as reveals in the lawsuit that they’ve inspired mediation and need to attain a “mutually acceptable resolution.”
But the UMG legal professionals stated in the letters that James and Denton weren’t even personally events in the 1986 settlement that lined their initial albums, and there may be no evidence that they granted the label copyright that they’ll now reclaim.
UMG maintains that the recordings have been “works made for hire,” which might not enable for the reclaiming of rights. Salt-N-Pepa’s lawsuit says the ladies’s agreements with the label make it very clear that they weren’t.
The Queens, New York, duo of James and Denton grew to become Salt-N-Pepa in 1985.
They have been later joined by DJ Spinderella, who was not half of the early agreements under dispute and is just not concerned in the lawsuit.
“Salt-N-Pepa boldly changed the look of rap and hip-hop,” the lawsuit says. “They were not afraid to talk about sex and to share their thoughts about men. Their sound recordings ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ and ‘None of Your Business,’ for example, were huge hits. They talked candidly about women’s sexuality and empowerment when such topics were frowned upon, heavily criticized, and called taboo.”
Cheryl “Salt” James (left) and Sandra “Pepa” Denton (proper) filed the lawsuit in federal court in New York on Monday, asserting that the Copyright Act of 1976 now applies to them. Brian Zak/NY Post
In 1995, they grew to become the first feminine rap group to win a Grammy, and in 2021, they obtained a Grammy lifetime achievement award.
Later this 12 months, they’ll turn out to be members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when they obtain the group’s Musical Influence Award.
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