Skyywalker Records, the record company of 2 Live Crew’s lead performer Luther Campbell, and the four members of the group filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking a judicial declaration that their album was not obscene and that the actions of Navarro imposed an unconstitutional prior restraint on expression.Ī federal district court judge declared the record obscene in Skyywalker Records v. Navarro believed that the album constituted obscenity. In a high profile case, Broward County, Florida sheriff Nick Navarro prosecuted record store owners who sold the rap group 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which contained many tracks filled with profanity and sexually laced language. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, used with permission from the Associated Press) Rap music not always obscene The appeals court explained that the plaintiffs had submitted expert testimony that the album contained serious artistic value – a contention not refuted by the sheriff by any expert testimony or other evidence other than a tape recording of the album. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed in Luke Records v. However, the plaintiffs appealed to the 11th U.S. Navarro (1990), applying the Miller Test from the U.S.

A federal district court judge declared the artists' record As Nasty As They Wanna Be obscene in Skyywalker Records v. Luther Campbell, aka Luke Skyywalker, lead singer of the rap group 2 Live Crew is surrounded by a sea of microphones after meeting other band members at Miami International Airport in 1990. However, the Court did not directly address the artistic merits, or lack thereof, of Elonis’ lyrics in issuing its decision. United States (2015), when the Court evaluated whether a man committed a true threat when he posted rap lyrics that allegedly threatened his ex-wife and others. Many other rappers have been threatened through the years with either obscenity charges or censorship efforts, including such rap pioneers as Ice-T and Too Short. Case in point, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent letters in 1989 to Priority Records about the rap group N.W.A.’s hit song Fuck Tha Police. Some government officials and others charged that certain rap lyrics were incendiary and contributed to violence. The musical genre, a segment of which often features a hard-core assessment of societal woes in the inner cities, has come under threats of censorship through the years in a variety of contexts. Once dismissed as a fad, rap music has become a cultural mainstay and a billion dollar industry. (AP Photo/Doug Jennings, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Freeman was arrested for selling an undercover detective a copy of 2 Live Crew's album 'As Nasty As They Wanna Be.' A federal judge ruled the album obscene, but the 11th U.S. Record shop owner Charles Freeman stands in handcuffs as a Broward detective searches him following his arrest in his store in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., June 9, 1990.

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