Before Sexually Explicit Lyrics In Music Were Normal... #BlackHistoryMonth

Screen shot from 1990 show "Donahue" 

Luther Campbell, better known as Uncle Luke, is 54 years old. Uncle Luke's music is my very first memory of Hip Hop. He's such a legend in the game that there needs to be an Unsung episode on him. This man who is now known as a high school football coach and a mayoral candidate once upon a time made sure Hip Hop was as freaky as it wanted to be. 

I'm not sure if I've achieved the art of focusing on all aspects of entertainment, but for the most part I like to focus on what effects me. Its Black History Month and more than anything else, this special month of celebrating people that look like me is the most important. Even more important than celebrating people that look like me is celebrating people that have entertained me. This also means that my main focus is not on the legends we've been talking about since elementary school. It's on the legends that have forever made a comfortable spot in Hollywood since I've been alive.

Every now and then we hear about how current music leaves nothing to the imagination, but three decades ago Uncle Luke made sure to leave nothing to the imagination in music. It wasn't the same kind of atmosphere though. Uncle Luke and the group 2 Live Crew that he managed and was in had to battle the government in order to freely talk about freaky things that makes some of us women blush. The Governor Bob Martinez (Governor from 1987 to 1991) actually had the group members arrested and arrested music store owners for selling their album Nasty As They Wanna Be. 

Think about that. Now rappers put all types of illegal drug phrases in their lyrics and then get mad when the cops are ready to arrest them. If you watched the videos above people clearly had mixed emotions of how they wanted their children to find out about sex, but they did not want Luther Campbell educating them. We've come a long way in Hip Hop, but the battle for legends like him isn't over. A couple years back Uncle Luke found himself back in the courts fighting for his right to coach high school football. He won.