Sha Rock of The Funky 4 + 1, widely credited as the first female MC, took to social media earlier this week to announce a court victory against her former record label Sugar Hill Records for back royalties.

"Back in the early 90s, after returning to the United States from Germany, I worked effortlessly to find an attorney to take on Sugar Hill Records," Sha Rock explained. "No one wanted to take my case, and I eventually came across a woman who put me in touch with Artist Rights Enforcement in New York City, who fights for artist rights. I became their first hip hop client."

"We’ve been back in forth to court since the 1990s. We’ve won all of our cases and now 42 years later I as well as the Funky 4+1 More, The Furious 5 and Reggie Reg from the Crash Crew have been vindicated. We won our final judgement."

Sugar Hill Records is regarded as the first successful independent rap label, releasing The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight," and "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, the records that set off the genre and forever changed it.

"I'm very happy to announce that after almost 40 years of litigation against Sugarhill records, we settled out of court after an independent arbitrator determined the amount owed and we were awarded back royalties and moving forward all of our writers & publishing will come directly to us! Victory as of TODAY!!!!!" Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 posted on Facebook.

"These old-school Hip-Hop artists (The Furious 5, Crash Crew And Funky 4+1) on the Sugar Hill Records label were denied cashing in on their original rhymes from the early 1980s until AREC came on the scene," the Artists Rights Enforcement Corporation said. "Now, they are not only showcased by today's biggest stars sampling their work, but actually getting their due credit and compensation. These artists opened AREC's doors to other Hip-Hop clients including Soul Sonic Force and Cold Crush Brothers. Now, we deal with matters of sampling and other such infringements on an almost daily basis."