Tuff City Records is a New York-based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded by journalist Aaron Fuchs in 1981.Verna, Paul (1994)
Tuff City Records Moves Forward and Looks Back
" ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', July 16, 1994, retrieved 2010-08-29 Initially concentrating on hip hop music, the label's roster expanded to include

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

, and hip hop-jazz fusion, and releases included reissues of music from as far back as the 1940s.

History

Aaron Fuchs was a journalist with ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'', and Tuff City was one of the earliest hip hop labels, with Fuchs quitting his job as a journalist to run the label. After the label's first two releases, a distribution deal was signed with

CBS Associated Records Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, although Tuff City severed the link after only a year. The label pioneered the release of albums of break beats—the building blocks for others to use in their recordings. Fuchs also bought the rights to earlier recordings that were sampled by others, bringing money into the label via licensing costs.Aswell, Tom (2010)
Louisiana Rocks! The True Genesis of Rock & Roll One
', Pelican, , p. 125 One of these, "

Impeach The President "Impeach the President" is a single by funk band the Honey Drippers, written and produced by Roy Charles Hammond, known as Roy C. It was first released on Alaga Records in 1973, and was re-released to iTunes by Tuff City Records in 2017, after b ...

" by the Honey Drippers, was the subject of a court case with Fuchs filing a lawsuit against

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

for illegally sampling the track on recordings by

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

and

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is a concatenation of the members' names "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. ...

.Perkins, William Eric (1995) Aaron Fuchs is currently in a legal suit with the writer and owner of "Impeach The President" Roy C. Hammond, for fraudulently acquiring the rights to "Impeach The President." Mr. Hammond never sold any of his rights or publishing of "Impeach The President" to Aaron Fuchs.
Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
', Temple University Press, , p. 9 The case was settled out of court.Forman, Murray & Neal, Mark Anthony (eds.) (2004)
That's the Joint! The Hip-hop Studies Reader
', Routledge, , p. 455 In late 1980s and early 1990s Tuff City released a string of new hip hop recordings by ANTTEX,

Lakim Shabazz Larry Welsh, also known as Lakim Shabazz is a former hip-hop emcee artist who was one of the founding members of the original version of the Flavor Unit crew. His stage name refers to the so-called Lost Tribe of Shabazz, which is based on th ...

, Mark the 45 King and YZ. In the mid-1990s, Tuff City launched the Ol' Skool Flava sub-label for reissues of classic hip hop material.Reynolds, J.R. (1995)
Tuff City Plans Aggressive Campaign for Rap Reissues
" ''

'', June 24, 1995, retrieved 2010-08-29Sansone, Glen (1995)
Bonus Beats
" ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'', October 1995, retrieved 2010-08-29 Another sub-label, Night Train International, was established to re-release

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, Lucky Four and Magic Touch blues and rhythm and blues music. Works of Professor Longhair,

James Booker James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. J ...

Tuts Washington Isidore "Tuts" Washington (January 24, 1907 – August 5, 1984) was an American blues pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He taught himself to play the piano at age 10 and studied with the New Orleans jazz pianist Joseph Louis "R ...

and

Lenny LaCour Lenny LaCour (born Leonard James LaCour Sr., April 27, 1932, Bayou Brevelle, Louisiana, United States) is an American record producer, songwriter and performer, particularly active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.Dik De Heer, with Gary Meyers a ...

, among others, have been released by the label. In subsequent years the label began reissue projects in soul with Soul-Tay-Shus Records, funk with Funky Delicacies, and New York Latin music with Andale Records. Via its subsidiary Tufamerica, Tuff City became also known for suing artists like

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

and the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

for their use of samples the rights to which Tuff City acquired for this purpose. In another case, Tuff City sued EMI records for its failure to pay royalties to Tuff City in connection with songs credited to the late George Patterson. EMI countered that Tuff City did not have proper chain of title.TufAmerica, Inc. v EMI Music Inc. Supreme Court, New York County, 651197/2011, docket entry 49 The case is ongoing, but its status is unknown since the subsequent purchase and break-up of EMI by Universal Music in 2013.

References

{{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels established in 1981 Hip hop record labels