Hip-Hop legends The Sugar Hill Gang are reportedly suing the rap group Beastie Boys for illicitly sampling the Gang’s 1979 breakthrough song “Rapper’s Delight.”
The Sugar Hill Gang, who essentially launched rap into the mainstream with “Rapper’s Delight,” allege that the Beasties used parts of the song without authorization on the single “Triple Trouble” off their To the 5 Boroughs album.
The Gang’s lawyer James Cinque recently filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court and claimed that the Beasties should have negotiated royalties.
An attorney for the Beasties maintained that the group took proper action in using the song, which The Gang only recently regained rights to.
Sugar Hill Gang member Joseph “Master Gee” Robinson said that the Beastie’s lawyers could have possibly made a lunder in licensing the song, which was originally released on the Sugar Hill Records label.
