An Inside Look into the Man who Created Parental Advisory
Pioneer or Just Plain Nasty... Who is the real Luther Campbell?

By: Bryant Lewis
TeenNewsNet Co-Editor

     When we think of the pioneers, the godfathers/godmothers of hip hop/rap we think of Grandmaster Flash, Run/DMC, MC Lyte, the real Roxanne, Dr. Dre, just to name a few. But as we watch the videos of today, the style that we see with the scantily-clad women dancing, with everyone chillin' and partying by the pool, beach etc. comes from the Miami based group 2LiveCrew, and in particular, their controversial front man Luther Campbell. Their big break came with the 1989 release of their album "Nasty As They Wanna Be." The most popular song in their history "Me So Horny" was from the album, and it propelled the group to national recognition. And that recognition led to some places. especially in the south trying to ban retail stores from selling the album.

    The group was arrested for performing the songs from "Nasty..... on stage, Campbell was arrested for "lewd acts" on stage, and was sued by among others, Van Halen and Star Wars director George Lucas. They were the first to release a Live rap album with Live In Concert in 1991 and had various degrees of success until the year 2000. 

     Let's move forward to the present and "Uncle Luke" coming back as what else, a Reality TV star, with his show Parental Advisory premiering on VH1 this August. He has a record label, and the hunger to make music again. In the first of two parts, TNN spoke with Campbell, about the days of the "Crew", his place in hip-hop history, and what made him decide to do a reality show. 
 
TNN:     How did the decision of making Parental Control come about?
 
LC:     Man, well first of all a lot of people came to me about doing a reality show and I didn't want to do it. Then networks came at me about doing a show for dancers, or porn stars, or strippers, and I just didn't want to do that kind of stuff. I've always been known for that, and I feel that it stifles my growth as a business man. And I wanted to show that there's more to me than bootie, bootie, bootie. I also have a family, a fiancee, kids, and I a life like every other working man. I wanted my show to be a combination of Run's, and Kimora's and Ozzy Osbourne's shows. And I'm not running away from LUKE, but I think this will be a great opportunity for people to see me like they've never seen me before.
 
TNN:      What's going to separate your show from the others?
 
LC:     Well first of all, our show is funny. Our show IS not scripted. Our show deals with issues that everyone deals with everyday. We're going to be like Good Times meet the Huxtables (laughs). I'm being real. This show will take me for who I am, not just Luke the "bootie man," but Luke the family man, Luke the business man.
 
TNN:     Are you haunted by your past? You've been defined one way, and you                     want Parental Advisory to show you differently?
 
LC:       I've been defined by the music industry as one way my whole career. I know who I am, and my family knows who I am, but now I want the world to know who Luther Campbell really is, and I think this show will do that.
 
TNN:     Did the music industry rob you of an opportunity to show that                                       business side of you?

LC:      To a degree yes. If you look at my bio, it says Luke/2LiveCrew; hype man; rapper. But it doesn't show Luke the business man, the man who found Trick Daddy, and Pit Bull, the guy who owned and operated the record company that marketed, manufactured and distributed 2LiveCrew and H-Town. I took the genre on my back, and created the whole south movement. I feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of Hip Hop.
 
     As we went deeper into this part of the conversation, it became apparent that Campbell is bothered about the lack of respect or the industry's failure to put Luke in the pantheon of hip hop innovators. 
 
LC:      Nobody realizes that I sold our albums initially out of the back of my car. When these award shows hand out lifetime achievement awards and they pay homage to people, they don't look at that.  I can go down the list of firsts that I've accomplished. Whether it's being the first to own a record label that discovered and distributed different artists, or the videos that you see now.  Yes I do feel I've been robbed by the industry of the opportunities that other people, who haven't worked as hard, and know the business as much as I know the business. I don't get the opportunity to head a Def Jam Urban division. I don't get mentioned with Puff Daddy, or Jermaine Dupri, both who I love and respect, and they will be the first to tell you they can't compare what they've done to all the hard work, and all the things that I had to go through in this business. I know how to do it all, how to distribute, how to market talent, what radio is all about. I had to do it this way because, coming from the South, the business wasn't really ready to listen to a 2LiveCrew, rappers from the South.
 
TNN:      I do believe that you and the rest of 2LiveCrew has not been giving the proper respect as far as your place in Hip-Hop history.
 
LC:      It's just hard to believe that with what we've done, that 2LiveCrew don't get a phone call, don't get invited to shows, almost like we didn't exist. All the things that I feel we left the industry with including having the south become big players in the hip-hop game. And that was after I heard that 2LiveCrew was just going to be a fad. Well, I think we proved them wrong. So doing Parental Advisory will be like a release for me.  I just want people to see who I am, who my family is, who my fiancee is. I want people to see me for who I am, and finally get off of this 2LiveCrew trip.
 
 TNN:      Your family is the focal point of your reality show Parental Advisory, what will we learn about them?

LC:      My family's crazy!!! My kids are pretty much like me, my fiancee, who you all will find is a lawyer, she's crazy. I think the viewers will find that to be really funny, and like I said before, the country is going to find out who the real Luke is.
 
TNN:     You say your kids are like you. Are they musically inclined as well?

LC:      Yes they are. You'll see during the show just how involved they are. You'll see my son wanting to be part of the music business. You know it's funny, when I do interviews, I get asked how do my kids feel about my music? You'll see that my kids are just fine with my music thank you.
 
TNN:     How excited is your family about the show?

LC:     Oh they are excited!!! They're excited in more ways than one. We all sat and had a conversation about doing the show. We discussed some of the good things that could come out of the show, and we discussed some of the bad things. You look at some of the shows out there, and you see the parents getting divorced or the kids going crazy after the show airs. I was very conscious of that. So when we talked about this, i feel like we are such a real family, and we are so close, and so capable of dealing with this, that this show wouldn't go to anyone's head. Though I'm worried about my son, because you'll see what he's trying to do as far as the music business goes.
 
TNN:     That sounds interesting to say the least.

LC:          Well you'll see how I handle it. You'll see that my son wants to follow my footsteps and get into the business, and how we deal with it. I'm very excited about the show. Excited about getting to show the other side of Luke.
 
TNN:     This country seems to more or less glorify Hugh Hefner, and what he's done in with the life he has developed. It really isn't that different from what you did in your heyday. Do you feel if you were white it would had a different ending for you?

LC:     Yeah, definitely. I've been saying that all my life. I mean you get one guy who gets praised for what he's done for adult entertainment, they go to his house for parties and all of that.
 
TNN:     I think you should be more compared to Howard Stern, he brings the exact same kind entertainment that you did.

LC:      You're right. He has a lot of marketing power, and at the end of the day, he gets a huge check from Sirius. Though to be fair, Howard did go through the same thing with the controversy and the FCC that I went through.
 
TNN:     One thing that I find interesting. Despite the fact there has been small groups who wanted to ban you, Stern and Hefner, all three in your own way, have been popular, and have giving the people what they want.

LC:       It's true, except the major difference is the other two has gotten major sponsorship behind them over the years.
 
TNN:      Let's talk about something that very few people know about. You have been involved in youth football in the Miami area for the better part of 20 years, the last three creating the National Youth Football League (NYFL).

LC:      You're right, I started a youth football league in Miami 20 years ago. And nobody knows that this is something I started. NFL stars Chad Johnson, and Antonio Bryant came out of my program, and up until a few years ago, about 30% of the U. of Miami players came from my program. But of course people don't read about it. But what I have found out is that Pop Warner doesn't reach out to a lot of communities. And I have found out that running these kinds of programs are expensive, and there are a lot of inner-city programs who cannot afford it. So i decided to create a league where I can go out and raise money, and have the national championship game down in Miami.  Right now we have a Baltimore charter, a Virginia charter, a Houston charter, and of course a Miami charter. I would hope to add to the 40,000 kids who are already in the league. And we're asking other athletes, entertainers, other business men to help get involved start a charter in your own area.
 
TNN:     This is a noble thing you are doing.

LC:     Thanks. We're trying to build this thing one brick at a time. It's not about money, it's about helping these kids, educate them show them a better way of life.  The goal is to get the kids to come down to Miami to play in the NYFL championship, as an all expenses paid trip for the kids.
 
TNN:     What can the kids do to pursue a career in music?

LC:      You take sports for example, whether its football, baseball, soccer, whatever, to get to the majors, it always starts at the grass roots. I want to be able to put programs in the schools that the kids can learn about the music industry. Not just being a rapper, but to learn about being an engineer, learn about marketing, and radio promotions, being a graphics and design person, and design a CD cover.  I blame the industry for not being behind such programs they way sports do.  If Obama gets elected President, I am going to ask him to be a commissioner of music or something.
 
 

Editor's Note: After the interview was conducted, Luther and his fiancee Kirstin Thompson tied the knot in Dallas, Texas July 19.  And the ceremony will be part of the season finale of Parental Advisory in September.