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Spike lee is grinning and waving his arms. Dustin Hoffamn is mouthing the words. And hordes of Knicks basketball fans are in a deliriously cheery trance of sports fanaticism as the team song, "Go, New York, Go," is played inside the phosphorescent courts of Madison Square Garden.
Players slam dunk. Rappers rhyme. Everyone is pumped. All of the spectacle is recorded in a promotional video from 1992, when the theme song was released.
It all seemed so fun-loving then. But the story behind those simple lyrics and that bass-driven beat is as riddled with mystery as the Knicks' chances in this year's playoffs. Two artists - one from Queens - both passionately claim to be the one behind the famous "Go, New York, Go." They each also claim to be the originator of the idea of melding hip-hop music and sports. The fight, although kept quiet for some time, escalated last year when Dana Mozie of East Elmhurst filed a discrimination complaint in May with the city Commission on Human Rights against his former employer, Alphabet City Sports and Records Inc. of Manhattan, claiming he was cut out of his just due because he is black.
But in a self-described effort to keep the issue out of the courts, the two parties settled in mid-June. Alphabet City paid $20,000 to Mozie, said Mike Nadler, an attorney for Alphabet, who added the money was to "put the issue to rest." Mozie confirmed that deal. In the settlement neither party admits guilt.
In documents filed with the Commission on Human Rights, which enforces the city's anti-discrimination laws, Mozie alleges that he was not given enough credit or pay for his work on the Knicks song and two other sports team songs, including the Washington Wizards song "You the Man" and the Chicago Bulls mega hit "Guess Who's Back."
Mozie also charges that he was kept out of meetings with the teams and was later directed to do all of the work on the songs. Jesse Itzler of Roslyn, who is white and is now executive producer with Alphabet City, said the dispute erupted after things...