When I was DJing all the time in the '80s and early-'90s, few songs enflamed the masses more totally or burned out more quickly than 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny" ('89), a hormone-dripping, vastly catchy exemplar of Miami bass-driven party rap following in the swaggering wake of the group's "We Want Some Pussy" and "Throw the D."
Subtle Luther "Luke Skyywalker" Campbell and group were not, and they became a free speech cause celebre — eventually arguing and winning their First Amendment case before the Supreme Court — even though most of those defending them thought they were outrageously stupid and crude ("well yeah, what's your point?"). Campbell became the Larry Flynt of rap, and his more recent Luke's Freakshow video series has done nothing to upgrade his public image.
All of which makes the following news that much more, um, interesting.
Luther Campbell has been coaching Pop Warner football for more than two decades but this season is different: Head Coach Luke has taken the Liberty City Warriors all the way to the top. The team will be playing at “The Pop Warner Super Bowl” national championship from December 8th–11th in Orlando, Florida at Disney World’s World of Sports Complex. What would Walt say?
“This season is very important to me. I put my career on hold. I have an album that was supposed to come out this year, but these kids need my full attention and I can’t think of anything better that I would like to do,” he says.
Founded as a way to keep wayward boys out of trouble, the Pop Warner organization has been around for 75 years and has spawned the careers of many top pro football players including Emmitt Smith, Ty Law, and Ray Lewis. Former Liberty City Warriors players in the NFL include Antonio Bryan of the Cleveland Browns and Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals. Pro-Bowler Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders is a Liberty City Warriors team sponsor.
Luke and the organization also focus on academics. “I would say that 95% of our kids have shown progression in academics. In fact, one of our kids this year was a failing student at the start and right now he is an all A student,” beams Campbell. “With the academic progress reporting system that I have implemented for our league, I’d like to think that I am not only helping develop great athletes but scholars as well.”
You can't tell a book by its cover, or something.
Article comments
1 - Bill Lamb
Everybody grows up, or age imparts wisdom, or so it seems...best of luck to Luke and his kids!
The whole 2 Live Crew mess played a role in my early (outside of the online world) career as a public librarian. In the middle of my library master's degree program, and purchasing all of the popular music for the local medium-sized public library, I took a stand on behalf of 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be."
The library profession takes one of the strongest stances against censorship - 2 Live Crew's album fit all of the standards of our library for purchasing materials - strong sales, and yeah, a few positive reviews. Some wanted the library to not purchase the album simply because they (and many others) did not like it, but I stood firm on principle that it belonged with plenty of other items many didn't like (explicit sex in many novels, unpleasant screeds on the right and left, racist materials, etc).
I was supported by the library director in opposition to many others and we did purchase it. We never faced opposition from our library customers as strong as that from within the library itself. The entire incident taught many useful lessons in the infancy of my library career.
Thanks for sharing the news about Luke Eric!
2 - Eric Olsen
very interesting Bill, and it did have the virtue of being ver ypopular, which has a way of railroading over some objections - great story, thanks!
3 - godoggo
I remember hearing "We Want Some Pussy" blasting out of the soundsystem of a MacDonald's in Taichung. Didn't phase the customers, for obvious reasons, but I found it amusing.
4 - Eric Olsen
I'd say highly amusing! One of the best parts of foreign travel is observing the cultural disconnects, infiltration and intermingling on terms not our own