Universal Music Group (UMG) scored a major legal victory this week after a federal judge dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit tied to Mary J. Blige’s 1992 classic “Real Love.”
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho ruled that Blige’s breakout hit was not “substantially similar” to the Honey Drippers’ 1973 track “Impeach the President,” the song at the center of Tuff City Records’ claim. Judge Ho noted that “the songs do not sound the same; a lay listener would not recognize ‘Real Love’ as having been appropriated from ‘Impeach the President.’”
Blige herself was not named in the lawsuit, which was brought against UMG in 2024. Tuff City alleged that “Real Love” used an uncleared drum part from the Honey Drippers’ funk anthem, one of the most sampled songs in hip hop history.
Tuff City, a label that claims ownership of tens of thousands of copyrights across genres ranging from blues and jazz to funk and hip hop, has a long history of filing similar lawsuits against major artists and labels. Past cases have involved the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Ye (formerly Kanye West), and Frank Ocean, with most of those claims either dismissed or settled before trial.
“Real Love,” from Blige’s debut album What’s the 411?, was a defining single of the early ’90s, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and cementing her reputation as the “Queen of Hip Hop Soul.”
The case, Tuff City Records v. Universal Music Publishing Inc.ary J. Blige, was heard in the Southern District of New York under docket number 1:24-cv-02585.