Salt-N-Pepa has filed a lawsuit in federal court to regain the rights to its most iconic recordings, but Universal Music Group said the pioneering rap duo never owned those rights in the first place.
The focus of the legal battle is Salt-N-Pepa’s attempt to terminate UMG’s control over Hot, Cool & Vicious and very necessary works, including chart hosting such as “Push It”, “Whatta Man” and “Shoop”.
The group notified the tag termination notice in May 2022, claiming that the Copyright Act allows them to restore ownership after a certain period of time.
However, UMG rejected the document and made a motion for firing on July 17, 2025, saying the organization has no legal status.
The key point of UMG is that Salt-N-Pepa never directly signed the rights itself. Instead, producer Herby “Luv Bug” Azor signed contracts for the albums in 1986 through his production company Noise In Noise.
This makes NITA the author and copyright holder, not the salt N-PEPA, UMG said.
UMG lawyers noted in court records: “Because the plaintiffs did not grant rights in the recording, they may not terminate any such grants.” Under Article 17, 203, only the original author or the person who handed over the rights could terminate the agreement.
Even if Salt-n-Pepa is somehow able to regain control of the original recording, UMG claims it will retain ownership of the mix, especially with a large number of licensed versions of Smash Hitts like “Push It.”
The tag states that these are considered “derived works” that are protected individually and permanently under existing contracts.
To make things more complicated, Salt N-PEPA also accuses UMG of “converting,” a legal term for mistakenly occupying or controlling someone’s property.
However, UMG believes that copyright law does not allow such claims in New York and believes that the Copyright Act replaces it anyway.
UMG also urged the court to suspend all findings in this case, noting that the review of decades of contracts, email chains and documents were unnecessary and expensive and premature.
The label believes that the entire case should be dismissed without a trial.
According to a July 17, 2025 court application, a federal judge will decide whether the lawsuit will move forward or be dismissed.
