Tuff City Records is a New York–based

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

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 advertis ...

'', July 16, 1994, retrieved 2010-08-29 Initially concentrating on

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

, the label's roster expanded to include

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre 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, ...

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 reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

, 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'', is 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), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the publishing division, Sony ...

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

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

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 l ...

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 and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

and

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is an initialism for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mi ...

.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, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'', 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 tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

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

Professor Longhair Henry Roeland Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980), better known as Professor Longhair or "Fess" for short, was an American singer and pianist who performed New Orleans blues. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday o ...

James Booker James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist and singer. Flamboyant in personality and style, and a pianist of extraordinary technical skill, he was dubbed "the Blac ...

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 (also stylized 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 and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

and the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

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