In 1991, Dres and Mr. Lawnge, collectiveluy known as Black Sheep, released their only album as a duo on this date.
On October 22, 1991, Black Sheep dropped their debut LP A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing on Mercury Records. As one the last acts to be inducted as members of the legendary Native Tongues collective, Dres and his partner in Rhyme/DJ Mr. Lawnge broke the stereotype that rappers had to be born and raised in NYC in order to make respectable Hip Hop. Hailing from Smalltown, North Carolina, the BX transplants turned their geographical diversity into a joke while making one of the most memorable albums and movements to come out of the Native Tongues’ camp.
The album features some very impressionable tracks including the video favorite “Strobelite Honey”, the incomparable “Flavor Of The Month” and the timeless club anthem “The Choice Is Yours”.
Shout out to Dres, Lawnge, Chi Ali, Q-Tip, the Native Tongues family, and everyone involved with this dope album! Salute!
Black Sheep is a hip-hop duo who were most popular in the ’90s. The duo consists of rapper Dres and producer and rapper Mista Lawnge. They were a part of the Native Tongues supergroup, which included Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and more.
Black Sheep’s biggest hit, “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited),” is a classic for listeners across generations. They most recently performed it at A GRAMMY Salute to Hip Hop, which aired December 10, 2023. The track comes from their debut album, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. This album included several successful singles, including “Flavor of the Month” and “Strobelite Honey.” Just earlier this year, Lola Brooke sampled the classic song for her track “Just Relax.” Here is a look at what Black Sheep has been up to over the years.
Black Sheep released albums in 1991 and 1994. However, they hit the dreaded “sophomore slump” with their second project, Non-Fiction, which was not critically or commercially successful. The duo disbanded shortly after this release.
Their next album, 8WM/Novakane, would not be released until 2006. Duo member Mister Lawnge made some appearances on the album, but Dres is considered the only member of Black Sheep. An instrumental version of their debut, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, was released in 2010. Tortured Soul , which was an album and mixtape released by Dres, released in 2018.
What Black Sheep Member Dres Been Up To
Dres of Black Sheep has remained active musically and socially. He released solo music and appeared on songs in 1999 and 2000. He also appeared on the lead single from the 2011 Slaughterhouse EP. Later, he formed a duo with A Tribe Called Quest member Jarobi called Evitan, which is Native spelled backward. The duo’s name pays homage to their supergroup, Native Tongues. They released a project in 2012 called Speed of Life, with their most recent output being a remix of a track called “Mad Men,” released in 2022. Dres continues to be a prominent figure in the music space, regularly posting on his social media accounts and appearing at various hip hop-centric events.
Further, Dres’ announcement from earlier this year has his day-one fans getting quite excited. “This particular project is a D&D project — Dilla & Dres. Through the blessing of Ma Dukes and my man Tony, I’ve been allowed to visit a sacred land,” he shared during the Induction Ceremony into Washington D. C.’s National Hip Hop Museum. The album has no release date at this time. Footage from the making of this album – among other moments – is included in his new documentary titled The Choice is Yours. It chronicles Dres’s life as a hip hop icon and is available to stream now on Paramount+.
What Former Black Sheep Member Mista Lawnge Has Been Up To
Mista Lawnge of Black Sheep has not been active musically for quite a while. During the sessions for 8WM/Novakane, Mista Lawnge was working on a secret album titled The Class of ‘89. The project seemed to stem from spite since Dres suggested Mista Lawnge work with other producers. This was not something he wanted to do. The fact Dres found out about it via their publicist only strained their relationship even more and ended it altogether. Mista Lawnge returned to the public spotlight in 2020 with a talk show on YouTube called Guess Who’s Talking. On it, he interviewed guests from a myriad of different avenues. However, only three episodes of the show are available on YouTube.
What The Duo Has Been Up To Together
Sources say Black Sheep were supposed to reunite for a tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut project in 2016. According to these sources, they announced the tour across their social media, but it never materialized into actually happening.
The tour would have reunited the members and lined up well with their fellow Native Tongues group members, A Tribe Called Quest, who dropped their final album that same year. Despite the duo’s disbanding, their coming together to perform at the Grammys Hip-Hop Tribute show – and Dres posting a picture of them together in April of this year – gives listeners hope that things may have changed.
Black Sheep has, unfortunately, had legal issues with streaming services. The duo sued Universal Media Group (UMG) earlier this year for “unlawfully lowering its artists’ royalty payments from Spotify as part of an ‘undisclosed, sweetheart deal’ for shares in the streaming service in 2008.” Unfortunately, their case was dismissed in November of this year for two reasons, one being uniquely frustrating – they took too long to do it.
Also, the judge ruled “Black Sheep could not support its remaining claims for underpaid royalties dating from 2021, finding in part that the contract gave the label ‘sole discretion’ over how to distribute its music.” It seems label troubles have been affecting artists throughout the years, no matter what generation they come from.
What’s your favorite memory of Black Sheep? Let us know in the comments section.
According to an exclusive report from Rolling Stone, Native Tongue family favorites Black Sheep have filed a large class action lawsuit against Universal Music Group over unpaid royalties related to a side deal that the global music giant allegedly made with Spotify.
Black Sheep, which is Dres and Mista Lawnge, says that UMG owes them and their entire artist roster over $750 million for breach of contract after allegedly accepting cash and company stock from Spotify in exchange for music from their artists. Black Sheep claim that UMG only counted the cash given when distributing royalty payments.
Black Sheep also allege in the lawsuit that the “previously undisclosed” deal violated their deal with Polygram, a subsidiary of Universal, going all the way back to when they signed their original record deal. The lawsuit says that Universal owes 50 percent of all net receipts related to the duo’s music.
“In the mid-2000s, Universal struck an undisclosed, sweetheart deal with Spotify whereby Universal agreed to accept substantially lower royalty payments on artists’ behalf in exchange for equity stake in Spotify – then a fledgling streaming service,” the lawsuit states.
“Yet rather than distribute to artists their 50 percent of Spotify stock or pay artists their true and accurate royalty payments, for years Universal shortchanged artists and deprived plaintiffs and class members of the full royalty payments they were owed under Universal’s contract.”
The lawsuit continues, “For approximately a decade, Universal omitted from the royalty statements Universal issued to plaintiffs that it had received Spotify stock in connection with the ‘use or exploitation’ of Black Sheep recordings.”
A Universal spokesperson called the allegations “fake and absurd” in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“Universal Music Group’s innovative leadership has led to the renewed growth of the music ecosystem to the benefit of recording artists, songwriters and creators around the world,” the statement read. “UMG has a well-established track record of fighting for artist compensation and the claim that it would take equity at the expense of artist compensation is patently false and absurd. Given that this is pending litigation, we cannot comment on all aspects of the complaint.”
Spotify did not respond for comment.
Universal owns a $1.7 billion stake in Spotify according to a 2021 Universal report and Black Sheep’s suit claims that a “substantial portion” originates from the shares Universal and its subsidiaries acquired in or around 2008.
Three-quarters of a billion dollars are on the line in a new class-action lawsuit filed against Universal Music Group, according to Rolling Stone. The suit is spearheaded by classic rap duo Black Sheep, who are best-known for their 1991 hit “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited).” The duo was also part of the Native Tongues collective which included A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Queen Latifah.
Their lawsuit alleges Universal Music Group accepted both cash and company stock from Spotify in exchange for its labels’ music, but only paid royalties to its artists from the cash received from Spotify, cutting artists out of more than $750 million in royalties. Black Sheep argues that this violates the original terms of their 1990s contract with Polygram (since folded into the UMG umbrella), under which the label would have paid 50 percent of all net receipts from Black Sheep’s music.
The suit claims, “In the mid-2000s, Universal struck an undisclosed, sweetheart deal with Spotify whereby Universal agreed to accept substantially lower royalty payments on artists’ behalf in exchange for equity stake in Spotify – then a fledgling streaming service. Yet rather than distribute to artists their 50 percent of Spotify stock or pay artists their true and accurate royalty payments, for years Universal shortchanged artists and deprived plaintiffs and class members of the full royalty payments they were owed under Universal’s contract. For approximately a decade, Universal omitted from the royalty statements Universal issued to plaintiffs that it had received Spotify stock in connection with the ‘use or exploitation’ of Black Sheep recordings.”
According to the documents filed in Manhattan federal court, Universal valued its stake in Spotify at around $1.7 billion as of September 2021, with “substantial portion” of that coming from the above-mentioned deal. Since Universal could have withheld royalties from “thousands of artists” that have been signed to UMG’s subsisdiaries over the years, Black Sheep says they don’t know the “exact size” of the lawsuit’s possible class but that certification is forthcoming and that Universal’s records can reveal more information once subpoenaed.
The implications of this lawsuit could be massive, as streaming royalties have been at the center of numerous controversies at DSPs like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal for years.
Usually, it’s good to hear about iconic Rap groups, but Black Sheep isn’t surfacing for a walk down Hip Hop’s memory lane. Instead, the classic duo—which includes Andres “Dres” Vargas Titus and William “Mista Lawnge” McLean—is reportedly suing Universal Music Group. According to a report by Rolling Stone, the pair have filed a $750 million class action lawsuit against UMG over unpaid royalties.
Black Sheep claims that UMG worked out a deal with Spotify that shortchanged artists in the long run. Universal is accused of exchanging music from artists for cash and Spotify stock.
The rappers also allege they weren’t advised of this side deal; thus, it violates their contract with UMG’s subsidiary, Polygram.
“In the mid-2000s, Universal struck an undisclosed, sweetheart deal with Spotify,” the lawsuit reportedly reads. “Universal agreed to accept substantially lower royalty payments on artists’ behalf in exchange for equity stake in Spotify – then a fledgling streaming service.”
“Yet rather than distribute to artists their 50 percent of Spotify stock or pay artists their true and accurate royalty payments, for years Universal shortchanged artists and deprived plaintiffs and class members of the full royalty payments they were owed under Universal’s contract.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK-October 1: Hip-Hop Duo Black Sheep’s Mista Lawnge (William McLean) and Dres (Andres Vargas Titus) appear in a portrait taken on October 1, 1994 in Brooklyn, New York City. (Photo by Al Pereira/MIchael Ochs Archives).
Following Rolling Stone‘s report, a UMG spokesperson denied Black Sheep’s claims.
“Universal Music Group’s innovative leadership has led to the renewed growth of the music ecosystem to the benefit of recording artists, songwriters and creators around the world,” they said.
“UMG has a well-established track record of fighting for artist compensation and the claim that it would take equity at the expense of artist compensation is patently false and absurd. Given that this is pending litigation, we cannot comment on all aspects of the complaint.”
