Yet Another Group Has Sued Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson Over “Uptown Funk!”
It’s now been three years since Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk!” conquered the known universe, and the song has already been subject to plenty of litigation. Ronson and Mars gave songwriting credits to the Gap Band, and fellow funk bands like Zapp and Collage have also filed lawsuits. And now there’s yet another lawsuit over “Uptown Funk!,” this one from the early rap trio the Sequence.
The Sequence recorded for the pioneering rap label Sugar Hill Records, and Angie Stone, who would eventually go on to neo-soul stardom, was one of their members. The group made a few classic singles, and Dr. Dre sampled their “Funk You Up” on his Friday-soundtrack single “Keep Their Heads Ringin’.” “Funk You Up,” as you’ve probably already guessed, is the subject of the “Uptown Funk!” lawsuit. TMZ reports that the Sequence are claiming that “Uptown Funk!” has “significant and substantially similar compositional elements” to their 1979 single. Judge for yourself below.
Beyond the basic subject of people getting funked up, I honestly don’t hear a lot of similarities between the two songs, but I’m not on a jury.