Legendary hip-hop group ‘The Sugarhill Gang’ is working on their first official album in over a decade.
The group recently entered the recording studio to begin the process of recording their 5th official album, since the release of their first self-titled full-length, which dropped in 1980.
The group is the subject of a documentary being produced titled “I Want My Name Back,” which debuted at the Urbanworld Film Festival last week.
The documentary was shot by Roger Paradiso, who produced films like “The Thomas Crown Affair”, “The Manhattan Project”, “City by The Sea”, and others.
“I Want My Name Back” tells the story of The Sugarhill Gang’s rise to fame, along with their controversial place in hip-hop history, as well as decades-long legal battle to own their rap names, which they have recently gained control of.
According to Paradiso, the group has finally entered the recording studio to work on the follow up to ‘Jump On It’, which was released in 1999.
“They’re working on a new album and have been for a while,” Roger Paradiso said. “They got so disillusioned during their first experience. If that song [the seminal hit “Rapper’s Delight”] happened today, they’d be set for life. But they are living a very modest life.”
In addition to the new album, the group was actively involved in making “I Want My Name Back,” which delves deep into the legal battle the group encountered with Sylvia and Joe Robinson, the owners of the legendary Sugar Hill record label.
Songs like “Rappers Delight,” and “Apache,” are still played on the radio and in clubs around the world, although the group never saw the majority of their royalties.
“Their recording career came to an end not really because they wanted to, but they were under such a bad contract,” Paradiso said, admitting that the Robinson’s refused to comment on the documentary.
“They started touring and started learning how they were getting ripped off,” Paradiso said. “When their contract came up, they got legal advice, and they tried to negotiate a better contract and the label didn’t want to. They had no publishing control and they certainly weren’t paid correctly on the royalty side.”
Currently, there is no release date for “I Want My Name Back,” or the Sugarhill Gang’s 5th album.
