Without direct label relationships and paper trails, underground producers are exposed to credit theft

RP Boo’s track ‘11-47-99’ — built from the Godzilla instrumental in Pharoahe Monch’s ‘Simon Says’ — was released on DJ Godfather’s Detroit label Databass credited to DJ Slugo as a ‘remix’, except the release was RP Boo’s original track, not a remix. He had informally handed Slugo the record to remix, and because he had no direct relationship with the label (‘I had no access to Godfather’) he had no recourse. He responded by withdrawing under the alias ‘D’Dynamic’ and returning later ‘with more heat’; years afterward Rashad and others helped document his original authorship, and Planet Mu reissued it. The structural lesson: verbal agreements, informal record-sharing, and lack of a direct label relationship enable credit theft — protect yourself by owning your publishing, incorporating, and dealing with labels directly.

Examples

‘11-47-99’ released as DJ Slugo’s ‘remix’ on Databass. RP Boo went quiet as ‘D’Dynamic’, then reissued the real version (‘02-52-03’) on Planet Mu’s Classics Vol. 1.

Assessment

Identify the structural factors that let ‘11-47-99’ be miscredited. State two concrete steps RP Boo recommends to guard against credit theft.