Released 1988 Genre Hip hop Label Ruthless Records | Recorded 1987 Length 3:55 | |
Writer(s) Juana Burns
Juanita Lee
Fatima Shaheed
Dania Birks
Anna Cash | ||
"Supersonic" is a 1988 single by J.J. Fad from their self-titled debut album. It reached #10 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Songs and #22 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. "Supersonic" stayed on the dance charts for eight weeks. The single was certified gold by RIAA, and also got nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989, making them the first all-female rap group to be nominated for a Grammy award.
The song as been sampled by others in the music industry like Fergie in her song, "Fergalicious", including parts of the beat and ways in which the song is sung. There has been much debate over whether or not this has been legal sampling, and a lawsuit was filed by former N.W.A. member Arabian Prince against Ruthless Records because he says the Black Eyed Peas did not provide them any royalties on the song. In a later interview with HipHopDX, Arabian Prince stated, “will.i.am did the right thing and the good thing by actually saying, ‘Okay, yeah, I got this from ‘Supersonic,’ we’re gonna go ahead and get the publishing on this and pay royalties to me, whoever else and the girls.’ So that was a good thing,”