Back in the day, before you could shrug your shoulders at an overtly suggestive song such as Lil' Wayne's 'Lollipop,' Luther 'Luke' Campbell was hip-hop's Hugh Heffner. A former member of 2 Live Crew, Luke helped pave the way for freedom of lyrical expression by challenging the American justice system. Now removed from his bad boy lifestyle with a wife and two kids, he has to do his best to protect his children from today's raunchy influences, just as parents tried to do with his music.
Premiering on VH1 on Monday, August 4th at 10:30 PM ET/PT, 'Luke's Parental Advisory' gives viewers a look inside the day-to-day life of the man who introduced the "booty-shaking" element to hip-hop known as "Miami Bass," and won the music industry's biggest freedom of speech battle in the Supreme Court which resulted in warning labels on music.
BlackVoices.com's own Denver Louis recently had the opportunity to speak to VH1's latest reality star on everything from his kids, to his marriage, to even his former lifestyle. Grab a seat!
*Parental Advisory: This Video Contains References to Adult Content*
Whose idea was it for the show?
Well, it was my idea, I always wanted to do one. I always said that if I did a reality show, it would be something different from what people would expect me to do. I had people coming to me, telling me it should be 'Luke looking for a new girl,' 'Luke for a new dancer,' 'Luke looking a new this one or that one. But I wanted to do something that people wouldn't expect. I wanted to give people a look at family that only those close to me can see. People come to my house and they're thinking there must be women swinging on chandeliers and naked people running around. When they come to my office, they think they're going to be seeing all sorts of things. But they don't know that I run my household just like my mother and father ran their household. And I run my office just like any other executive.
What prompted you to start your own adult entertainment company?
When I look at urban adult entertainment right now, it just looks so grimy. When you look at what 'Hustler', Heffner and 'Vivid,' and other successful companies, you don't see that same quality in urban entertainment. What you see is Motel 6 and stuff like that. There is some good stuff, but it's overshadowed by the masses of Motel 6-like adult entertainment. So what I want to do is to bring some class in tasteful, sexy product. It's not anything raunchy or grimy, its things that adults can really appreciate; I think there's a void for it. And it doesn't help that I'm the person who helped bring sex into hip-hop. I get 40-something years old, now my audience as well as the hip-hop audience are adults. That's my job to provide entertainment and I hope to bring that to them.
How does being in 2 Live Crew, being known as the king of sex in hip-hop contrast with your family life?When we started out in 2 Live Crew, we wanted everything to be different. I wanted the group to be different instead of trying to be like Run DMC of somebody like that. We wanted to be a product of our environment. In Miami , as you probably know, it's sun, fun, beaches and everybody's half-naked. So it gets really sexually driven with the music. When you listened to the first songs, you would hear Red Fox and Leroy Skillet because we were really going after the adult comedy crowd. We wanted to introduce the world of hip-hop to the samples of adult comedy and that's what we did. It was intended to be funny and shocking. My family life is nothing like that.
What about your kids?
As far as my kids are concerned, I'm one of those fathers that want to have a relationship with them but is denied by their mother. I'm one of those guys that you don't hear about, you always hear about deadbeat dads, but you never hear any dialogue about the dad who fights to see their kids but is deprived by the woman. When I'm with the kids, I'm always teaching them responsibility and accountability. I've always said that when my kids want to go beyond Playstation games and want to talk about girls that they will have an open dialogue with me. The great thing about the show is that it has allowed me to spend more time with my kids than I ever had and raise them on TV and give them some of the values that my mother and father gave me.
Do you find it difficult to keep your kids away from adult-themed content, given that you are in the industry?
I don't find it hard because I don't bring it to my house. What I do in the office is done in the office. I'm just like the parent who goes to work on the back on the garbage truck or the parent that is a football player. When I come home, I'm dad, I'm Luther Campbell, I don't bring Luke there. When people watch this show, they'll see that my life is no different from theirs.
You were a big reason behind the parental advisory stickers that appear on many hip-hop albums, do you think they hold any effectiveness today?When I created the sticker, I was the first person to have explicit lyrics on a rap album. I understood being a responsible person, which I don't ever get credit for, so that's when we put out the clean as well as the adult versions of our albums. A lot of kids can go into the stores now and they can buy any record.
Kids are getting it and they shouldn't have it. With the internet now, there's no regulation and there shouldn't be for the most part. But there should be regulation on whether or not kids can access adult content, whether it's a record or otherwise. I can't say that the industry is as strict as it used to be.
What do you say to the people who consider your music and much of your image misogynistic?
I would disagree with them, but that's how they feel. If you truly listen to my music, you will understand that it's a big party and everybody's having fun. You look at the videos and everything that I did was calculated. When I say the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders in daisy dukes, I put girls in videos in daisy dukes. When I saw girls in a Budweiser commercial with bikinis on, I put girls in bikinis in my videos. I also put guys in my video and they had their shirts off. Nobody ever accused me of being misogynistic to men. Men played as big a role in my music and my videos as women did. When we look at the world today, the people who have this opinion the strongest are conservative black people.
There are two sets of black people in America, conservatives and liberals. I'm a liberal. The unfortunate thing is that those conservative blacks who make the statements are the only ones who've had a voice. The liberal blacks, the hip hop lovers never had a voice. If you ask a liberal black person if my music is misogynistic, they'll give you a different answer. It's all entertainment.
How did you meet your wife?
I met her in a restaurant on South Beach where she was with some friends. I didn't know if she was with a man and I didn't want to be disrespectful so I asked a bus boy if he could take my number and tell her if she didn't have a man to give me a call and if she did it was alright. So he gave it to her. She took about a couple weeks to call, and from that point we were on again, off again; she was giving me the run-down. Eventually we hooked up and fell in love, it was a match made in heaven.
Did she have to make a big adjustment to your lifestyle?
I always knew that any woman that I ended up marrying had to be a strong woman. I had to know that she wanted to be with Luther Campbell. I know that there's going to be a lot of pressure on her from family and friends based on their perception of who I was. Her dad and I had several conversations so I could let him know who I was.
What's your goal with the Luke Entertainment Group?
My goal is to take it to the highest of heights. When I started my record company in the trunk of my car, my goal was to create platinum records and discover new artists. Those are my same goals, but it's a little more expansive now. People have an opportunity to buy stock in my company and fans now have an opportunity to have a stake in my company.
1. I am one of those liberals, and i really want to take a peak at his show next week. I feel that music and entertainment can never take the place of the parental involvement. I remember being a young'n and my uncles would blask luke "me so horney" etc... It was funny to us then, but my cousins and i didnt really take lyrics and act out the music. I applaud luke and his family, and even though we dont know both sides of the story, shame on a woman who makes it a living hell for a man to see his kids. I am a parent and I couldnt imagine the trauma it places on the children. He seems to have found a good woman, and hopefully he can regain some time lost with his kiddies. Will be watching:)
Roxi 2 States at 3:26PM on Jul 29th 2008