2 Live Crew: Horny for Justice
Dear Gen Xer,
Travel with me back in time to the summer of 1990. The Soup Dragons announced that they were free. Roxette concluded that it must have been love. And 2 Live Crew became the first ever recording artists to have their music declared obscene.
I'll be blowin' your mind, while you're blowin' my brains
As Nasty as They Wanna Be is not a subtle album. Here’s a verse from the hit, ‘Me So Horny’:
I know he'll be disgusted when he sees your pussy busted
Won't your mama be so mad if she knew I got that ass?
I'm a freak in heat, a dog without warnin'
My appetite is sex, 'cause me so horny
All of us remember this stupid song. We laughed and drank and danced ironically and had a blast doing so. Nobody took 2 Live Crew seriously. How on earth could you? We scoffed at those who clutched their pearls, just like we’d scoffed at everything else: satanic panic, the PMRC, and any other uptight asshole looking to blow our buzz.
Speaking of uptight assholes, meet Jack Thompson. He was an anti-pornography activist from Coral Gables, Florida; a citizen who was concerned about the erosion of values. Christian values, naturally. The kind that didn’t appreciate songs about busting pussy.
So offended was Mr. Thompson, he transcribed the lyrics to every song on As Nasty as They Wanna Be. Then he sent a copy of those lyrics to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives listened to the album and found it “extremely explicit and degrading to the female sex.” The Sheriff’s Office prepared an affidavit, requesting that the court find probable cause for obscenity. Judge Mel Grossman was happy to issue the order.
Enter Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro.
Navarro had helped pioneer the TV show Cops by allowing his deputies to be filmed during the show’s inaugural season. Navarro was known for being flamboyant and for being tough. One time he pitched a tent and used it to house inmates from his overcrowded jail. He also used the crime lab to manufacture crack cocaine, which he planted utilized in his stings. Long story short: Navarro was the type of prick the media calls ‘colorful’.
Navarro and his band of buzzkills visited the local record shops. They wore jackets emblazoned with “Broward County” and kept their badges in plain view. They warned record shop employees “as a matter of courtesy” that future sales of As Nasty as They Wanna Be would result in their arrest. There would be no more busting of pussies on Navarro’s watch.
I say what's wrong, baby doll, with a quick nut?
One week after Navarro made his rounds, Skywalker Records, Inc. filed a federal suit on behalf of 2 Live Crew. This was in order to determine whether Navarro’s actions constituted illegal prior restraint, and whether As Nasty as They Wanna Be was actually obscene.
On June 6, 1990, Federal Judge Jose Gonzales ruled that Sheriff Navarro had acted unconstitutionally when he threatened to arrest record store employees for selling copies of the album. Regarding the charge of obscenity, Gonzales concluded:
“It cannot be reasonably argued that the violence, perversion, abuse of women, graphic depictions of all forms of sexual conduct and microscopic description of human genitalia contained on this recording are comedic art.”
2 Live Crew had argued that their lyrics were satirical. Gonzales disagreed. He based his final decision on the Miller v. California test. Established in 1973, the Miller Test states that obscene material must:
Appeal to prurient interest based on community standards
Depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way
Lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
Gonzalez believed As Nasty As They Wanna Be met all three criteria.
“This is great news for American women and children. I encourage any family whose child has been exposed to this record to get that child counseling and to get themselves an attorney and take 2 Live Crew to court.” – Jack Thompson, anti-pornography activist
2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell had this to say:
“I think it’s a sad day for the record industry as a whole. You’ve got Guns N’ Roses and Andrew Dice Clay sitting next to my album on the record shelves in these stores. Why is my record obscene and theirs isn’t? There is no way anyone can tell me that they are not singling us out.”
The fallout was quick.
On June 8, 1990, two days after the ruling by Gonzales, record store owner Charles Freeman was arrested for selling a copy of As Nasty as They Wanna Be to an undercover officer with too much time on his hands.
Two days after that, Luther Campbell and fellow Crew member Christopher Wong Won were arrested after performing at an adults-only show in Hollywood, Florida.
You said it yourself, you like it like I do
“They sang some songs from the album that Judge Gonzalez ruled was obscene. They were allowed to leave the club and, several blocks away, were pulled over and taken into custody without incident.” – Al Gordon, Broward County Sheriff’s spokesman
Campbell and Wong Won were booked at Broward County Jail. They were released soon after, with notices to appear in court at a future date.
That date came on October 19, 1990.
Six jury members (5 white, one black; 4 female, 2 male) listened to a couple of tapes provided by the prosecution: two muddy recordings of the adults-only performance that had led to the arrests of Campbell and Wong Won.
The defense conceded the performance was raunchy, but contended that it was constitutionally protected as free speech. They also attempted to establish 2 Live Crew’s place in the history of music. They leaned on the testimonies of music critic John Leland, as well as professor of literature Henry L. Gates, who offered the court a survey course on black culture.
“[They’ve taken] stereotypes of black men--as oversexed, hypersexed in an unhealthy way--and blown them up. You have to bust out laughing.” - Henry L. Gates
Gates pointed to Shakespeare, Joyce, and Chaucer, whose works were also chastised for containing language that was considered vulgar back in their day. He added that rap music typically follows the black tradition of signifying or “doing the dozens”, a form of teasing that often includes a variety of lewd remarks.
Prosecutors didn’t buy it.
They peppered Leland and Gates during cross-examination with questions concerning the artistic integrity of 2 Live Crew’s lyrics. Whenever they quoted the lyrics, however, especially those regarding oral and anal sex, jurors fell to giggling and rolling their eyes.
Closing arguments were heard the following morning.
The jurors retired to discuss the case. They returned a couple of hours later with a verdict of not guilty.
“We found many things humorous. We looked at this as a comedy.” - Beverly Resnick, 65, juror
It's true, you were a virgin until you met me
One more victory, two years later.
On May 7, 1992, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned Judge Gonzales’s ruling in 1990, claiming no evidence had been presented that proved As Nasty as They Wanna Be was legally obscene or lacked artistic value.
“I am extremely disappointed.” – Jack Thompson, anti-pornography activist who started this frivolous shit-show
Unlike Thompson, Luther Campbell was happy. He’d spent over $1 million in legal fees, and was relieved that the obscenity charge was finally behind him.
The effects of Campbell’s victory cannot be overstated. It provided legal protection for explicit content. It also helped legitimize rap as an art form, one that deserved constitutional protection.
It was a landmark moment in law and artistic expression: a pushing back against the encroachment of conservative forces, of uptight assholes imposing their values on a culture that continues to grow more diverse.
“What this does is let black folks know that the First Amendment really does apply to us. It says we can speak our minds the same way that white people do. This isn’t just a victory for 2 Live Crew. The entire music industry won big on this one.” – Luther Campbell
I remember what a stir this was! People get so wrought up over ART...how about dealing with some of the actual crime that's going on?
Great article, Sonny!
“extremely explicit and degrading to the female sex.”
Obviously never heard 'Stray Cat Blues' or any other Stones song.