(1989) 2 Live Crew - As Nasty As They Want to Be

Dem Vinyl Boyz Review (Episode 08) recorded August 2022

Shakin' what ya Mama gave ya this week on Dem Vinyl Boyz Episode 08 "As Nasty As They Want To Be" from 2 Live Crew. This historical album features dope classics such as "Me So Horny", "C'Mon Babe" and "Dirty Nursery Rhymes"!!! The 2 Live Crew consists of Chris Wong Won aka "Fresh Kid Ice", David Hobbs aka "Mr. Mixx", Mark Ross aka "Brother Marquis", and Luther Campbell aka "Uncle Luke", aka "Luke Skyywalker", aka "Captain D" aka "Luke"!!!

Luther Campbell was the Quarterback for 2 Live Crew. he is synonymous with Miami. It’s the city where he was born and raised. He first gained attention as one of Liberty City’s premier DJs. If you had $50, Campbell happily showed up to spin records. “I did parks, car washes, wedding receptions, baby showers, street corners,” Campbell tells SPIN from his Miami home. “I was available.” Those early sets would mostly feature Herbie Hancock, ‘70s British funk band Olympic Runners, and some reggae records. “Miami’s not really the South,” he says. “It’s a melting pot of Bahamians, Jamaicans, Cubans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans.” Campbell himself is the son of a Bahamian mother and Jamaican father. Then hip-hop came along, down from New York. Campbell was instantly hooked. “I started playing these records at the parks and skating rinks,” he says.

Campbell then came across a California duo called 2 Live Crew. The early iteration of the group was very different from what the group would become. Their first single “Revelation” and didn’t contain a single bad word. “It was a ‘conscience’ record,” Campbell remembers. The record’s uplifting message wasn’t exactly setting the charts on fire. Not to mention the group’s lack of showmanship. “These guys were boring on stage,” he says.

The 2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty as They Want to Be” is a watershed album in hip hop history. It stands to this day as arguably the dirtiest record ever laid to tape, or at least one that millions of kids heard. What made it relevant, aside from the fact it contains enormously catchy beats and rhymes (albeit stolen for the most part), is it was for a period of time declared “legally obscene.” In their infinite wisdom, the state of Florida made the act of selling this album an arrest-able offense, an enormously controversial measure that exploded in their faces like a Luther Campbell facial once they realized people will automatically defy the norm and acquire anything they are told they cannot have (the “banned” album moved 2 million copies)