Salt-N-Pepa have spoken out about their legal battle with Universal Music Group.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the rap duo - Cheryl 'Salt' James and Sandra 'Pepa' Denton - explained their decision to sue their record company more than 30 years after first signing their contract.
The history-making female hip-hop group claims that Universal is violating federal copyright law by refusing to allow them to exercise their so-called "termination rights".
Termination rights allow artists to reclaim the copyright to their original recordings after a period of time, according to the US Copyright Office.
"When you're an artist, in the beginning, you sign a contract saying that the copyrights will revert back to you after 35 years," James said.
"And we've done all the things legally to get our copyrights back. But they're just refusing, so we had to sue them."
"It's the law. That's what it really boils down to. It's the law," Denton added.
Denton and James filed a federal lawsuit against UMG in May, accusing the label of violating the Copyright Act by not allowing the musicians to reclaim control of their music's intellectual property.
They further claim UMG has removed some of their biggest hits, including Push It, from streaming platforms amid the legal stoush.
