In his 1992 autobiography, 2 Live Crew founder Luther Campbell outlined his goal--having his detractors "get the fuck out of our way while we go for our own slice of the American pie." But those detractors also made a trash-talking group with more business savvy than musical talent the most controversial--and heavily-publicized--First Amendment poster boys since Larry Flynt.
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The Crew's 1986 debut, on Miami native Campbell's own Luke Skyywalker label, contained the signature tune "We Want Some P--sy!!" and introduced the 808-thumping "Miami Bass" sound. While Mr. Mixx (David Hobbes) worked the turntables, Campbell, Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) and Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Won Wong) delivered sexually-themed rhymes ranging from jolly to misogynistic. The 1987 follow-up, Move Somthin', came in both "clean" and "dirty" versions, but that tactic didn't forestall trouble when 1989's double-album As Nasty As They Wanna Be was released. It included the Crew's first real hit, "Me So Horny," but drew the ire of opportunistic lawyer Jack Thompson, who crusaded against the group. In June 1990, a Florida federal judge ruled the album was obscene, and headlines ensued: music store clerks were jailed for selling the album, and three group members were arrested at a concert. But the flap also turned the Crew into a cause celebre: Bruce Springsteen okayed use of a sample from "Born In The U.S.A." for a song on Campbell's solo debut later that year. In 1991 the group released what was reportedly the first full-length live rap album and Sports Weekend, with a few stabs at topicality amid the usual juvenalia.
Campbell's solo endeavors led other Crew members to sue him over rights to the marketable name, and he left in 1992. The group soldiered on with a series of albums no markedly different than those from its early-'90s heyday, but the public's attention had long since turned to other rappers willing to take 2 Live Crew's libidinous vision even further.
