When Florida attorney
Jack Thompson
did everything he could to have the X-rated music of
2 Live Crew
outlawed, his assault on the First Amendment led many free speech advocates to take up the group's cause.
Thompson
's actions inspired quite a bit of anger from both white liberals and African-American rappers, who saw something obscene about a prosperous lawyer declaring war on a young black entrepreneur who had avoided the pitfalls of Miami's Liberty City ghetto.
Luke
was under attack for doing the very thing Republicans consistently advocate -- using free enterprise to pull himself up by the bootstraps. Ironically, many of those who defended his First Amendment rights had little or no use for his lyrics.
Banned in the USA
, the
Crew
's first album for a major label and its first after the battle with
, is for many, a guilty pleasure. Say what you will about
's high school locker-room lyrics; the
's Miami bass
rap
can be quite catchy, infectious, and amusing. Many New York hip-hoppers were quick to criticize the fast tempos employed by Miami rappers like
, but the fact that they did it their own way instead of emulating Northeastern MCs is something to admire instead of lambast. ~ Alex Henderson