2 Live Crew Wins “Work For Hire” Legal Case & Regain Rights To Catalog

Uncle Luke has revealed that 2 Live Crew and the heirs of the group members have won a major legal case that has granted them the rights to their music.

On Wednesday (October 16), Uncle Luke shared an Instagram post announcing a court had ruled in favor of 2 Live Crew in a case over the rights to their catalog and trademark. In addition to confirming that 2 Live Crew members Mr. Mixx and the heirs of the late Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice had been granted the rights to all of their albums as a result of the ruling, Uncle Luke took a shot at Joseph Weinberger, who bought all the master and publishing rights to the group’s albums and trademark in 1996.

“I got some good news for y’all,” Campbell started off in the video. “2 Live Crew. All of our albums, we won. We got all our s##t back from Little Joe Weinberger.”

In the caption of the post, Campbell added to his message by thanking God that the legendary Hip-Hop group was once again the “rightful” owners of their music catalog.

“The verdict is in members of the 2live crew,” he wrote in part before adding, “We have just got our catalog back to its rightful owners we a have amazing God. To everyone everyone reading this never give up the fight.”

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The verdict follows a years-long legal battle that was initiated in 2021 after Weinberger, who owns Lil’ Joe Records, sued 2 Live Crew in objection to letters of termination sent in 2020 to reclaim the rights of their first three albums amid the 35th anniversary of their releases under U.S. copyright law.

At the time that Weinberger purchased the rights from Uncle Luke’s Luke Records imprint, the outfit was forced into bankruptcy the year prior, according to Music Business Worldwide. Those circumstances ended up becoming an integral part of 2 Live Crew’s legal counsel’s argument that they were rightfully able to reclaim the rights to their catalog because they were not “works for hire” and were not employees of Lil’ Joe Records at the time that their master and publishing rights were sold to Weinberger..