2 Live Crew

The 2 Live Crew was an American hip hop group from Miami, United States which had its greatest commercial success in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Fronted by Luke Campbell, they were considerably controversial in the U.S. due to the sexually explicit and misogynistic content in their songs, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.[1][2][3][4][5][6] They were frequently challenged for their sexually explicit lyrics.

2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew performing at Exxxotica NY in 2009
Background information
OriginRiverside, California, U.S.
GenresMiami bass, dirty rap
Years active1984–1998
2009–2016
LabelsFresh Beat / Macola Records
Luke Records
Lil Joe Records
Associated actsIce-T, Luniz, Numskull, Yukmouth, Flavor Flav, Chilly Chill, Mannie Fresh, Professor Griff, Trina, DJ Slice, DJ Laz
Websitewww.the2livecrew.com
Past membersFresh Kid Ice
Brother Marquis
Mr. Mixx
Luther Campbell
Verb

History

1984–1986: Group formation and breakthrough

The 2 Live Crew, although seen as a main fixture in the Miami hip-hop scene, actually got their start in California and was created by DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs) with fellow rappers Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won), and Amazing Vee (Yuri Vielot).

The group released its first single, "Revelation", on its own label "Fresh Beat Records" in 1984. The A-side of "Revelation" contained a song by the same where the only rapper featured was Amazing Vee, and on the B-Side it contained a song named "2 Live" where Fresh Kid Ice was the only rapper featured. "Revelation" was popular in Florida. Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell), who at the time was local DJ and promoter, invited The 2 Live Crew to relocate to Miami. Also due to the subsequent success of 2 Live Crew, this made Fresh Kid Ice the first rapper to be noted in Asian American in hip hop, and the first Asian rapper to gain notoriety.[7]

For their second single "What I Like" (1985), Fresh Kid Ice was the only rapper featured. Amazing Vee was only credited as writer, and left the group shortly after.[8]

The single "Throw The D" released in January 1986 gave a permanent blueprint to how future Miami bass songs were written and produced.[9] The song was produced DJ Mr. Mixx as he is credited to be the architect of the genre.

Rapper Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) joined The 2 Live Crew. Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell) gave The 2 Live Crew a record deal and worked as the group's manager. He also joined the group as its hype-man and spokesperson in their subsequent controversies.[10]

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'".[11] With word-of-mouth attention, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Bob Rosenberg of Will to Power remixed "Beat Box" (originally released as "Two Live") and was billed "King of Edits" by Luke Skyywalker. In 1987, a Florida store clerk was acquitted of felony charges for selling the album to a 14-year-old girl.[10]

1988–1998: Best selling albums and controversy

In 1988, the group released their second album, Move Somethin' It was 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 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.[12] 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.[12]

In 1989, the group released their third 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.[13] 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.[10] 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.[14]

Navarro warned record store owners that selling the album might be prosecutable. 2 Live Crew then filed a suit against Navarro. That June, U.S. 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 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 (who owned a house in Broward County) 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.[10]

"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."[15]

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 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.[16]

As a result of the controversy, sales of As Nasty As They Wanna Be remained brisk,[17] selling over two million copies. It peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. A few other retailers were later arrested for selling it as well, including Canadian Marc Emery, who was convicted in Ontario in 1991, and would later gain fame as a marijuana activist. Later hard-rock band Van Halen sued over an uncleared sample of their song "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" in the 2 Live Crew song "The Fuck Shop". The publicity then continued when George Lucas, owner of the Star Wars universe, successfully sued Campbell for appropriating the name "Skywalker" for his record label, Luke Skyywalker Records. Campbell changed his stage name to Luke (and changed the record label's name to Luke Records) and the group released an extremely political follow-up album, Banned in the U.S.A., after obtaining permission to use an interpolation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.".

Banned in the U.S.A. is the group's fourth album. 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).

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 their fifth album. 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 their sixth album. Released in 1991, it is 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.

From that point on all the release by 2 Live Crew would always vary having one or two member of the original line up missing by the exception of Fresh Kid Ice.

In 1994, Back at Your Ass for the Nine-4 was released. This album the group was billed as "The New 2 Live Crew" as Brother Marquis and Mr. Mixx had left the group, the line-up for this album was Fresh Kid Ice, Luke and new member, Verb. It is the last album with the 2 Live Crew banner to feature Luke. The album became a moderate hit, peaking at #52 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[18][18] Two charting singles were produced, "Hell, Yeah" and "You Go Girl" who were both made into music videos.

1995 saw a reunion of Fresh Kid Ice, Brother Marquis and Mr. Mixx re-formed again to record "Hoochie Mama" for the soundtrack of movie Friday. The soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, where it held the position for two weeks, and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for six weeks.

Fresh Kid Ice, Mr. Mixx, and Brother Marquis left Luke and Luke Records to go to Lil' Joe Records and released Shake a Lil' Somethin' (1996) without Luther Campbell. Shake a Lil' Somethin' is their seventh album. It was released on August 6, 1996, for Lil' Joe Records and was produced by Mr. Mixx. The album would make it to #145 on the Billboard 200 and #33 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and two singles "Shake a Lil' Somethin'", which made it to #11 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and "Do the Damn Thing", which made it to #24 on the same chart. It peaked at number 59 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop and albums chart. At the time of this album, Fresh Kid Ice had left the New 2 Live Crew (which consisted of himself, Luke and Verb and Luke Records) to re-join original members Mr. Mixx and Brother Marquis. However, the reunion would be short lived as Mr. Mixx would leave the group after this album.

The Real One is their eighth and last studio album. It was released on April 7, 1998, for Lil' Joe Records and with the absence of Mr. Mixx, was produced by various producers. The album peaked at #59 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Shortly after the release of this album, Brother Marquis left as well.

2000–2009: Hiatus and reformation

In the early 2000s, both Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice would pursue solo projects.[19][20]

Circa 2006–2007 Fresh Kid Ice and Brother Marquis discussed their differences and decided to relaunch 2 Live Crew. They offered other past members to be involved but were declined. Both of them started to tour and release singles.[21]

2010–present: Awards, Mr. Mixx return, and death of Fresh Kid Ice

In 2010, Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice briefly reunited with Luther Campbell, and Mr. Mixx as they were honorees winners at the 2010 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: The Dirty South Edition.

Later that year, the both of them released the singles I'm 2 Live featuring Mannie Fresh, Cougar, Boom featuring E-40. They announced the release of a new 2 Live Crew album called Just Wanna be Heard with guest Too Short, E-40, and Insane Clown Posse. It was set to be released in August 2010, but remains unreleased to this day.[22][23][24]

In June 2014, the 2 Live Crew released a new single Take It Off, the video clip features cameos by Mannie Fresh, Flavor Flav, Trina, Flo Rida, and Trick Daddy. The single is available on iTunes[25][26] Later that year they made a cameo in the Flo Rida music video G.D.F.R..[27]

Also in 2014, they announced an album called Turn Me On, which remains unreleased.[28] By Thanksgiving of that year, 2 Live Crew reunited with Luther Campbell for a series of shows until 2015.[29][30]

In 2016, Fresh Kid Ice left the group to relaunch Chinaman Records. Shortly after Mr. Mixx returned to the 2 Live Crew. That same year the new 2 Live Crew duo released two singles How Bout Dem Cowboys (2016) and One Horse Sleigh (2016).[31][32]

On July 13, 2017, at age 53, Fresh Kid Ice died in a Miami hospital from cirrhosis of the liver.[33][34]

"Oh, Pretty Woman" lawsuit
Main article: Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.

The Crew parodied Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" on the album As Clean As They Wanna Be. The copyright owners of the original song brought a lawsuit in 1990 claiming copyright infringement. After court decisions back and forth, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case in 1994.[12] The Supreme Court unanimously adopted a rule from an earlier Ninth Circuit case involving Rick Dees,[35] and ruled that the 2 Live Crew's parody was fair use, and thus did not infringe.[36]

Discography
Main article: 2 Live Crew discography
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References
  1. Philips, Chuck (10 November 1990). "Sound Warehouse agrees not to stock 2 Live Crew's controversial 'As Nasty as They Wanna Be.'". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. Philips, Chuck (9 May 1992). "Omaha Undaunted by Florida Rap Ruling : Pop music: Officials still will prosecute retailers for selling 2 Live Crew albums despite obscenity reversal". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  3. Philips, Chuck (2 July 1992). "Album Sales Pact Averts Omaha Case : Pop: Obscenity charges are dropped after two record retail chains agree to stop selling sexually explicit 2 Live Crew music to minors". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. Philips, Chuck (23 April 1992). "Record Retailers Charged : Lawsuit: Two chains are accused of selling rap group 2 Live Crew albums to minors". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  5. Philips, Chuck (9 March 1991). "'Rap Jam '91' Show Called Off in Ohio : Concert: Cincinnati arena manager cites insufficient insurance, not police pressure, in cancellation". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  6. Various. "LA Times articles about 2 Live Crew". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  7. "As Asian rappers rise, some must face questions about race and hip-hop". NBC News. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  8. "Two Live Crew* - What I Like". Discogs. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  9. Bein, Kat (3 November 2014). "Tootsie Rolls, 'Hoochie Mamas,' and Cars That Go Boom: The Story of Miami Bass". thump.vice.com. VICE. Retrieved 27 February 2017. Miami Bass, Booty Bass, Booty Music, or whatever you want to call it, changed the scenes of hip hop, dance music, and pop forever...The story of music’s dirtiest genre reaches back to the ‘80s with roots set firmly in Afrika Bambaataa’s elektro-funk...foundational artists Amos Larkins and Maggotron, both of whom have been credited as kicking the regional sound into motion. According to Stylus Magazine, Larkins and the Miami Bass conception can be traced back to the movie Knights of the City...Inspired by the humid and vice-ridden melting pot of cultures, ...MC A.D.E.’s "Bass Rock Express" gets the title for first hit of the genre, but it was 2 Live Crew who became the poster boys of movement. Record store owners who sold the album were arrested and charged with crimes of obscenity, and 2 Live Crew members were arrested just for playing shows...US Appeals Court system ruled rap was protected by First Amendment rights...2 Live Crew made it safe for hip-hop as we know it to exist. The influence of the genre is far-reaching...Miami Bass remains not only one of the most ridiculous and enjoyable genres of music in recent memory but also one of the most important.
  10. Huey, Steve (1999). "The 2 Live Crew: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  11. Henderson, Alex. "The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are: Review". allmusic. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  12. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 1198/9. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  13. Philips, Chuck (18 June 1990). "The 'Batman' Who Took On Rap : Obscenity: Lawyer Jack Thompson put his practice on hold to concentrate on driving 2 Live Crew out of business. In Southern Florida, he is loved and loathed". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  14. Jet, Nov. 26, 1990, p.34
  15. Philips, Chuck (25 July 1990). "Businessman With a Nasty Rep : Rap: 2 Live Crew's controversial Luther Campbell says he's 'just a hard-working guy marketing a new product.'". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  16. Philips, Chuck (8 May 1992). "Appeals Court Voids Obscenity Ruling on 2 Live Crew Album". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  17. Philips, Chuck (2 August 1990). "Despite Chains' Boycott, Campbell Album Sells : Rap: The explicit 'Banned in the U.S.A.' is doing brisk business. The more restriction there is, said an executive, the more interest is stimulated". LA Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  18. "The New 2 Live Crew Back At Your Ass For The Nine-4 Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  19. "Fresh Kid Ice". Discogs.
  20. "Brother Marquis – Bottom Boi Style CD". CD Universe.
  21. Wong Won, Christopher 'Fresh Kid Ice" (20 July 2015). "My Rise 2 Fame": The Tell All Autobiography of a Hip Hop Legend. Iconic Three Media Group,LLC.
  22. "2 Live Crew Returns to Music, Despite Stroke and Midlife Crisis". Rollingout.com.
  23. "The 2 Live Crew on Apple Music". Music.apple.com.
  24. "2 Live Crew Readies New Album, Mannie Fresh Assists". HipHopDX.com. 23 May 2010.
  25. "iTunes – Music – Take It Off by 2 Live Crew". iTunes.
  26. "2 Live Crew Music Video Production Shoot in Ft. Lauderdale". Canvasfilms.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  27. "Flo Rida Feat. Sage the Gemini and Lookas: G.D.F.R. (2014)". Imdb.
  28. Katel, Jacob (28 August 2014). "2 Live Crew's Brother Marquis on New Album, Turn Me On, and Three Decades of Dirty Rap". Miami New Times.
  29. "2 Live Crew Reunion at LIV". New Miami Times. 27 November 2014.
  30. "2 Live Crew & Uncle Luke at LIV". World Red Eye. 31 August 2015.
  31. "How Bout Dem Cowboys – Single The 2 Live Crew & Mr. Mixx". Itunes. 18 November 2016.
  32. "One Horse Sleigh The 2 Live Crew & Mr. Mixx". Itunes. 18 November 2016.
  33. "Christopher Wong Won, a Founding member of 2 Live Crew Dies at 53". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  34. "2 Live Crew's Fresh Kid Ice Died of Cirrhosis of the Liver". Tmz.com.
  35. Fisher v. Dees. 794 F.2d 432 (9th Cir. 1986).
  36. "Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com.
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