Beasties Mired in Beastly Legal Battles

Lewd, crude and rude.

A description of the notorious Beastie Boys’ music and image?

Yes, but it could also apply to the behind-the-scenes legal battles that have been raging in the two years since the New York trio’s “Licensed to Ill” became the first rap album ever to top Billboard magazine’s pop chart.

The album sold 4.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, but you’d never know it by looking at the guys’ bank statements.

The Beasties’ contract with New York-based Def Jam Records called for the group members--who go by the stage names King Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D--to receive about $2.5 million. However, both sides agree, the group received less than $100,000 before payments stopped altogether.

The Beasties contend that Def Jam’s failure to pay the rest of the money constituted a breach of contract, according to the group’s New York lawyer, Ken Anderson. The Beasties signed last fall with Capitol Records, which plans to release the trio’s follow-up album, “Paul’s Boutique,” in July.

Learning of the group’s intentions to sign with Capitol, Def Jam and its distributor--CBS Records--filed suit last August in both federal and state court in New York, charging that the group was rightfully theirs. The Beasties counter-sued, charging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Industry insiders, however, predict that the matter will be settled out of court.

Russell Simmons, owner of Def Jam Records, said in an interview last week that the reason the Beasties weren’t paid their full royalties was that the trio failed to live up to a provision in its Def Jam contract calling for it to deliver a new album by the end of 1987.

“They were saying they were never going to make a another record,” said Simmons, who also managed the Beasties at their peak. As owner of Def Jam, Simmons said he “suspended their royalties pending their just giving me a letter confirming that they were going to make another record--and they wouldn’t do it unless I’d give them three times the amount of money . . . and complete creative control. I’m always prepared to renegotiate, but that’s a stick-up.”

In a separate interview last week, Anderson denied that the contract stipulated a deadline for delivery of the second album. He added that counting penalties and interest, the group is owed $5 million.

Anderson believes that as much money flowed from the Beasties to Def Jam as the other way around. He said the Beasties had a provision in their agreement where they shared 15% of their merchandising revenue with the record label.

Simmons--whose label and/or management roster includes such other rap heavyweights as Run-D.M.C., L.L. Cool J and D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince--said that the bottom line is that “Capitol offered them more money than I owed them or could pay them. I’m just a little company and a big company took my group.”

He said he feels that he isn’t being compensated for his contributions to the group. “I spent three years putting that project together,” he said. “I dressed them, put them on a Madonna tour, the Run-D.M.C. tour, put them in a movie. It could never have been without me. I just did a lot for nothing.”

Andy Slater, who co-manages the group with Howard Kaufman, said that the Beasties had no direct contractual relationship with CBS. But, he said, when the group found it wasn’t receiving its royalties from Def Jam, it contacted CBS and told them to stop sending Def Jam the money.

A spokesman for CBS declined comment.

The upcoming album was co-produced by Matt Dyke, who co-produced Tone Loc’s red-hot “Loc-ed After Dark” (which recently became the second rap album to reach No. 1). A 12-inch single, “Hey Ladies,” is due next month.

Where “Ill” was a fusion of rap and metal, the follow-up is a melding of rap and soul, according to Slater. “The first one was like AC/DC meets Led Zeppelin,” he said. “This one borrows from Isaac Hayes and James Brown. It’s avant-funk.”

YO! BE SAFE: Buy an album, get a condom.

That’s the bonus when you purchase an album by the Florida-based rap group 2 Live Crew. The group--which hit gold with the albums “2 Live Crew Is What We Are” and “Move Something”--has signed a promotional agreement with Custom Condoms of Somerville, Mass., to insert its Homeboy condoms in 2 Live Crew albums and tapes, and to supply them in bulk for giveaways at the group’s concerts.

In exchange, a photo of 2 Live Crew holding Homeboy’s product is featured on a display box with the endorsement: “Yo! Be safe! Homeboy condoms are the freshest wrap in town!”

The irony in this “safe sex” saga: 2 Live Crew has a reputation as one of the most sexually explicit acts in rap--a field not known for timidity of expression.

Luke Skyywalker, the leader of 2 Live Crew and head of its record company, Luke Skyywalker Records, said that the group’s X-rated reputation will give its advocacy of safe sex more impact.

“We’re a group that talks about sex, so people can relate us with something like that,” said Skyywalker (real name: Luther Campbell). “You wouldn’t want to have bubble-gum rappers like Jazzy Jeff talk about having sex with a rubber. But with us, it’s coming from the sexual people of the year.”

The 28-year-old musician--who likened the group’s sexually explicit raps to the ribald routines of comedians Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor--said that the group didn’t accept money for the Homeboy endorsement.

“The money that they told us they were going to pay us, we told them, ‘Look, we’ll take it in condoms.’ ”

NEWS NOTES: Joe Jackson, who once vowed never to make a music video, has finally made one for “Nineteen Forever,” his new single. “I got tired of being the only guy who wasn’t doing them,” Jackson said. “It gets lonely.” . . . Pink Floyd’s highly successful 1988 concert tour is showcased in a two-hour pay-per-view TV special airing July 28. The show also includes interviews with group mainstays David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. . . . Hits by Kool Moe Dee, Salt-N-Pepa and D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince highlight “MTV Raps,” a compilation album due early next month from Jive/RCA. The network plans to promote the album on its seven (count ‘em) weekly rap-oriented programs . . .

Jefferson Airplane isn’t the only veteran rock act to shift to Epic Records. The label has also signed shock-rock pioneer Alice Cooper, whose label debut, “Trash,” is due in July. Guests on the album include Jon Bon Jovi and Aerosmith mainstays Steve Tyler and Joe Perry. . . . Weird Al Yankovic sings the lyrics to the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme to the melody of Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” on his next album, due in August. The comedian will also star in a movie for Orion, “UHF.”

FINALLY: In the mood for dumb songs? The Stupeds--the Society to Undertake the Preservation of Endangered Dumb Songs--will play four local shows this week: tonight at the Palomino, Monday at At My Place, Tuesday at the Studio One Backlot and Thursday at the Central. The seven-man group performs medleys of dumb songs from the ‘70s (“Ben,” “Afternoon Delight,” “Indian Reservation”) and the ‘80s (“Morning Train,” “Gloria,” “Mr. Roboto”), as well as more specialized disco and “diabetes” medleys. The latter stretches from the Chordettes’ ‘50s hit “Lollipop” to Def Leppard’s recent “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Said Stupeds leader Rick Right: “These songs are endless little car wrecks in the highway of time.”