Alvin aqua Blanco is the Director of Content in the Men's Division for iOne Digital, steering Cassius Life and Hip-Hop Wired. Representing the Bronx, he was nurtured by a steady diet of Hip-Hop culture and music. He graduated from the University of Virginia, with a B.A. in African American Studies and Psychology. His prior work has appeared in XXL, The Source, Vibe, The Village Voice, and other notable print and online publications. Other stops in his over 15-year journalism career include BET, MTV News, and AllHipHop.com. Alvin joined iOne in 2017 and continues to always make sure the culture—be it music, business, fashion, sports, sneakers, and everything in between—is thoroughly and accurately documented. @aqua174
You absolutely hate to see it. Spinderella is suing Salt-N-Pepa for unpaid royalties. Recently, the group’s longtime DJ left the group (or was fired, depending on who you ask), but now she wants the coins she believes she is owed.
According to TMZ, Spin believes she been getting hit with the jig since at least 1999. That’s when a ‘Best of’ album dropped that she claims she was told she would be getting one third of the royalties and a $125K payment. But she did not.
The lawsuit also claims that she got fleeced by getting excluded from Salt-N-Pepa’s VH1 show (she only appeared as a guest) and was eventually paid less than one third of the group’s appearance fee.
Source: Amy E. Price / Getty
Spinderella also feels a ways that she wasn’t paid at all for their performance at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. However, the biggest kicker is that this year she found out the group had been paid $600K in royalties by SoundExchange. Of that, she hasn’t seen any loot.
But worth noting is that you will be hard pressed to find Spin’s real name, Diedra Roper, in any of Salt-N-Pepa’s production credits.
So now, Spinderalla is suing her groupmates of over 30 years for trademark infringement, fraud and breach of contract. Business is business.
