2 Live Crew's "Banned in the USA"
(1990)
The profane Miami crew led by Luther "Luke" Campbell respond to censorship battles with a memorable performance on the MTV VMAs.
Everlast:
"There's far worse things going on in the world than rapping, but they were getting arrested. It made them huge that year. They were so big, it wasn't even funny. Everybody wanted to get arrested after that."
Ludacris:
"Man, when they talk about people going to court and doing things like this you know there being rules to the game. America's one of those countries that if somebody makes a rule, it's gonna be broken. I don't care what you do to my records, people are still gonna get it on the streets."
Doug E. Fresh:
"Luke knows that controversy stimulates thought. Controversy sells records. So, Luke being the businessman and creative artist that he is, flipped it, turned it into 'Banned in the USA,' and said, "I'll give you all a record to check and you can tell me if you feel the same way I do." They did and it went platinum and he just laughed all the way to the bank."
Ed Lover:
"MTV didn't really embrace it until the 'Banned in the USA' thing happened and they had to go to court for it all the time. We used to get a lot of letters from a lot of the guys that was in prison or locked up, and they used be like, 'Oh man, play that 2 Live Crew video for us again.'"
