Controversial hip hop group 2 Live Crew is best known for the single “Me So Horny” and the album As Nasty as They Wanna Be, both released in 1989. Founded in Riverside, California in 1984 by DJ Mr. Mixx (real name: David Hobbs), and rappers Amazing Vee (Yuri Vielot) and Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won), their first single, “Revelation,” was successful in in Florida and they were encouraged to relocate to Miami by DJ and promoter Luther Campbell, who was known professionally as Luke Skywalker, which was later changed to simply Luke after threat of legal action from George Lucas. While Amazing Vee elected to leave the group after the release of their second single, “What I Like,” the group’s popularity began to pick up steam once Luke joined the group and became their hype man, manager, and label owner once they signed to his Luke Records label. The group’s third single, “Throw the D,” is acknowledged as being the single that invented the Miami Bass genre. With new member Brother Marquis (Mark Ross), they released their debut album, The 2 Live Crew is What We Are (1986), which stirred controversy thanks to its sexually explicit lyrics. The album became the center of a court case when a Florida record store was charged with a felony for selling the album to a 14 year old girl. In 1988, 2 Live Crew released their second album, Move Somethin’, which was even more successful than their debut. The album – which had been released in clean and explicit versions – saw the band’s music involved in another obscenity case, this time in Alabama. The controversy helped the album rise to number 68 on the Billboard 200 and number 20 on the R&B / Hip Hop Albums chart. More popular than ever, 2 Live Crew released the album As Nasty as They Wanna Be (1989), which featured the hit single “Me So Horny.” The album climbed just inside the Top 30 on the Billboard 200 and hit number 3 on the R&B / Hip Hop chart. “Me So Horny” hit number 1 on Billboard’s Rap Singles chart and even reached the top of the Netherlands’ singles chart. Bruised by their legal issues, the next album, Banned in the U.S.A., was released in 1990. The first album to feature the RIAA’s Parental Advisory warning, Banned in the U.S.A. was the group’s most political release to date. However, the group’s popularity and legal battles led to problems behind the scenes and Sports Weekend: As Nasty as They Wanna Be, Pt. 2 (1991) was the last album to feature all the group’s original members. Future albums by 2 Live Crew – Back at Your Ass for the Nine-4 (1994), Shake a Lil’ Somethin’ (1996), and The Real One (1998) – were met with diminishing commercial returns and they eventually split. Various versions of the group have reunited and spent time in recording studios, but no new albums have emerged since their 1998 release.
