Couldn’t let the week go by without Unca Luke!
The 2 Live Crew was an American rap group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.
The 2 Live Crew’s debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are, was released in 1986. Alex Henderson of Allmusic commented that the album “did take sexually explicit rap lyrics to a new level of nastiness”, with tracks such as “We Want Some Pussy” and “Throw the ‘D'”. With word-of-mouth attention, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 1987, a Florida store clerk was acquitted of felony charges for selling the album to a 14-year-old girl.
Move Somethin’ is the second album by Miami hip hop group 2 Live Crew. The album was released in 1988. It was also certified Gold and featured the singles “Move Somethin'” and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”. The album improved on the charts from the previous album, making in to #68 on the Billboard 200 and #20 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
Campbell decided to sell a separate clean version in addition to the explicit version of the next album, Move Somethin’ (1988), produced by Mr. Mixx. A record store clerk in Alexander City, Alabama, was cited for selling a copy to an undercover police officer in 1988. It was the first time in the United States that a record store owner was held liable for obscenity over music. The charges were dropped after a jury found the record store not guilty.
In 1989, the group released their album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which also became the group’s most successful album. A large part of its success was due to the single “Me So Horny“, which was popular locally with heavy radio rotation on Miami’s WPOW-Power 96 FM.
The American Family Association (AFA) did not think the presence of a “Parental Advisory” sticker was enough to adequately warn listeners of what was inside the case. Jack Thompson, a lawyer affiliated with the AFA, met with Florida Governor Bob Martinez and convinced him to look into the album to see if it met the legal classification of obscenity. In 1990, action was taken at the local level and Nick Navarro, Broward County sheriff, received a ruling from County Circuit Court judge Mel Grossman that probable cause for obscenity violations existed. In response, Luther Campbell maintained that people should focus on issues relating to hunger and poverty rather than on the lyrical content of their music.
Navarro warned record store owners that selling the album might be prosecutable. The 2 Live Crew then filed a suit against Navarro. That June, US district court Judge Jose Gonzalez ruled the album obscene and illegal to sell. Charles Freeman, a local retailer, was arrested two days later, after selling a copy to an undercover police officer. This was followed by the arrest of three members of The 2 Live Crew after they performed the As Nasty As They Wanna Be album at Club Futura in Hollywood, Florida hosted by radio personality Tony the Tiger (Ira Wolf) from Power 96 FM; one of the few radio stations in the U.S. that continued airplay while the trial ensued. After international exposure with support from freedom of speech advocates like SCREW magazine‘s Al Goldstein and many others, they were acquitted soon after, as professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. testified at their trial in defense of their lyrics. Freeman’s conviction was overturned on appeal as well.
“A lot of people have gotten the impression that I’m this rude sexual deviant or something,” Campbell told journalist Chuck Philips. “But contrary to what has been printed about me in the papers, I’m no moral threat to anybody. I’m just a hard-working guy marketing a new product.
In 1992, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned the obscenity ruling from Judge Gonzalez, and the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear Broward County’s appeal. As in the Freeman case, Gates testified on behalf of The 2 Live Crew, arguing that the material that the county alleged was profane actually had important roots in African-American vernacular, games, and literary traditions and should be protected.
Banned in the U.S.A. was the fourth album by the 2 Live Crew. It was originally credited as Luke‘s solo album. The certified Gold album included the hits “Do the Bart” and the title track. It was also the very first release to bear the RIAA-standard Parental Advisory warning sticker.
The eponymous title single is a reference to the decision in a court case that its album As Nasty As They Wanna Be was obscene (the decision would later be overturned on appeal). Bruce Springsteen granted the group permission to interpolate his song “Born in the U.S.A.” for it.
Displeased over the decision of Florida Governor Bob Martinez who, on being asked to examine the album, decided it was obscene and recommended local law enforcement take action against it and over the subsequent action of Broward County, Florida, sheriff Nick Navarro, who arrested local record-store owners on obscenity charges for selling the group’s albums and the subsequent arrest of members of the group on obscenity charges, the group included the song “Fuck Martinez”, which also includes multiple repetitions of the phrase “fuck Navarro”. The group found two other men with the same names, and had them sign releases, as they thought that this action would make it impossible for Martinez or Navarro to sue them.
Live in Concert is the fifth album by rap group, 2 Live Crew. This was 2 Live Crew’s first and only Live album, and was also the only 2 Live Crew release under the Effect subsidiary label of Luke Records, a move that was deemed necessary for the company to be able to release additional 2 Live Crew material outside of their distribution deal with Atlantic Records, which was signed in 1990 – the same year they released Banned In The U.S.A..
Sports Weekend: As Nasty As They Wanna Be, Pt. 2 is the sixth album by the 2 Live Crew (released in 1991) and the sequel of As Nasty As They Wanna Be. A clean version was released later that same year titled Sports Weekend: As Clean As They Wanna Be Part II. This would be the last studio album by all original members of the 2 Live Crew. It contains the very successful single Pop That Pussy. The album is certified Gold.