Funk You Up

"Funk You Up" is a 1979 old school hip hop song recorded by The Sequence for Sugar Hill Records. It is significant as the first hip-hop song to be released by a female rap group (and by a rap group from the Southern United States, as all three members of The Sequence were natives of Columbia, South Carolina), and was the second single released on Sugar Hill, following "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang.[1]

The opening guitar and synth-drums were sampled in Organized Rhyme's single, "Check the O.R." Dr. Dre used interpolations for his 1995 hit "Keep Their Heads Ringin'".[2] In 2003, a semi-remake entitled "Love of My Life Worldwide" appeared on Erykah Badu's album, Worldwide Underground. Erykah Badu's version contained rap vocals from herself, Queen Latifah, Bahamadia and Angie Stone aka The Sequence's Angie B in her later R&B persona.

In 1997, En Vogue sampled the song on their remix of "Whatever" featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard.

In 2016, The Sequence claimed that "Uptown Funk" infringed their single "Funk You Up". They decided to sue a year later.[3][4]