On June 10, 1990, two members of the controversial Miami bass rap act the 2 Live Crew were arrested on obscenity charges following a show at a Hollywood, Florida night club. Southern rap pioneer, music mogul and 2 Live Crew frontman Luther “Luke” Campbell and rapper Chris “Fresh Kid Ice” Wongwon were brought in by police after performing songs from their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be (Luke Records). The double platinum release gained infamy when it was deemed legally obscene on June 6 by a federal judge in Florida—claiming the sexually explicit material violated community obscenity laws.
The 2 Live Crew was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, and faced up to a year in jail. However, in 1992, the group was victoriously acquitted by a jury in the United States of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, overturning he unprecedented obscenity ruling. Luther Campbell instantly became an unlikely face of free speech rights for the arts.
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