As the last surviving member of The Sequence, Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook to discuss Hip-Hop history, losing friends and royalties with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur.
For decades, Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook watched Hip-Hop history unfold from the sidelines, even though she helped write some of its earliest chapters.
Now, the pioneering MC, songwriter and last surviving member of The Sequence is finally telling her story. The Sequence, comprised of Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook, Angie “Angie B” Stone and Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm, made history in 1979 as Hip-Hop’s first commercially successful female rap groups. Their groundbreaking single “Funk You Up” became a foundational Hip-Hop record and one of the most sampled songs in rap history.
In an upcoming exclusive interview with AllHipHop, Cheryl reflects on the recent losses of Angie Stone and Blondy, revisits the birth of one of Hip-Hop’s most influential records and shares never-before-heard stories. She tells Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur about her inside look at Sugar Hill Records, pioneering exec Sylvia Robinson and the troubling business that forever changed her life.
The conversation with Creekmur begins on a somber note as Cheryl remembers speaking to Blondy just days before her passing.
“I’m still in shock… If I knew that was going to be the last time I talked to her, I would’ve talked longer.”
From there, Cheryl takes readers back to 1979, when three teenagers from Columbia, South Carolina, walked backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert believing they belonged.
“We kept telling them, ‘We could beat those guys (The Sugar Hill Gang) rapping,’” Cheryl recalls. The trio’s confidence eventually earned The Sequence an audition with Sylvia Robinson. And that would become Hip-Hop history.
The upcoming interview dives deep into the creation of “Funk You Up,” Cheryl’s songwriting process, and the whirlwind that followed their signing to Sugar Hill Records.
She also offers her firsthand perspective on the birth of Sugar Hill Records, the emergence of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, the evolution of Hip-Hop, and why she believes many pioneers have never received the recognition or compensation they earned.
Perhaps most compelling is Cheryl’s ongoing fight to reclaim publishing and royalty rights that she says have remained unresolved for decades. She speaks candidly about signing contracts as a teenager, watching one of Hip-Hop’s most influential songs get sampled dozens of times, and why she says the business side of the music industry still has lessons today’s artists need to hear.
“They need to know we never got a dime,” she says candidly.
The full interview, to be released this week, explores Cheryl’s memories of Sylvia Robinson, the birth of Sugar Hill Records, the evolution of women in Hip-Hop, her thoughts on today’s generation of artists, and the unfinished legal fight to reclaim the legacy she believes belongs to The Sequence.
Stay tuned to AllHipHop. This conversation has a lot to unpack, and Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook is finally ready to tell it.
