Miami legend Uncle Luke regains copyright to 2 Live Crew’s music – NBC 6 South Florida

Rap legend Uncle Luke is celebrating a victory in a Miami federal court that awarded him copyright to the music he made as part of the group 2 Live Crew.

Luther Campbell, better known as Uncle Luke, lost ownership of the music catalog decades ago due to bankruptcy.

He won it back in court on Wednesday, and now the songs that caused a stir in the late 1980s and 1990s are back in the hands of their creator for the first time in more than 30 years.

“I was still thinking: Did we win? Did we just win? Did we get our copyrights back?” Luke told NBC6 in disbelief.

Joe Weinberger, owner of the hip-hop label Lil’ Joe Records and Luke’s former lawyer, bought the entire catalog in 1995 in the wake of bankruptcy.

Campbell filed a lawsuit against the label in 2022 when U.S. copyright law allowed ownership of a work to revert to its creator after 35 years. A federal jury decided Wednesday that the music should return to Luke.

“Artists like me can go and reclaim their copyrights when, in my opinion, they have been illegally taken away from us,” he said.

The rapper showed NBC6 several awards he has received for music over the years. But for the most part, the profits made from music were not his property.

“Hearing a song on the radio with your voice, a sample of your music, and you don’t get paid a cent for it, just imagine that. “This is disgusting,” he said. “If people try the music now, the right people can benefit from it.”

Luke’s son and the children of late members Brother Marquis, née Mark Ross, and Fresh Kid Ice, née Chris Won, will benefit from their fathers’ songs.

“You know it means a lot. It means the world. I look at Chris and Mark’s children and my son – that’s their parents’ work. It’s bigger than us, it’s more about the kids,” Luke said.

2 Live Crew is no stranger to controversy or major court case: They’re the ones who brought a free speech case to the U.S. Supreme Court that led to parental advisory stickers on albums.