The available public sources I found suggest that Ronnie Hudson wrote and performed “West Coast Poplock,” but the publishing rights were owned by Larry and Roger Troutman (of Zapp). One source specifically states, “the Troutmans owned the publishing,” which is the clearest rights clue available here.

Rights picture

  • Songwriting / composition: Ronnie Hudson is credited as the artist behind the track, and the song is identified as a 1982 release.
  • Publishing: Larry and Roger Troutman are described as owning the publishing rights.
  • Master recording: I couldn’t verify the current master owner from the sources available, so that part remains unclear.

Practical takeaway

If you mean “who controls the song rights,” the most defensible answer is: the publishing was owned by the Troutman side, while Ronnie Hudson is the original artist associated with the record. If you need the exact current owner of the master and publishing today, that usually requires checking a rights database or the label catalog history, because ownership can change over time.

In short: publishing points to Larry and Roger Troutman; original recording credit points to Ronnie Hudson.