Miami's 2 Live Crew helped redraw the legal landscape around what hip-hop could be, pushing the boundaries of free speech and taste with their provocative and sexually explicit recordings that led to landmark court decisions protecting the rights of artists. But for decades the hip-hop legends haven't had legal control over their iconic discography, after giving up their rights to the records in bankruptcy proceedings that followed their legal fights in the 1990s. Now, a jury verdict is paving the way for surviving members of the group, and heirs of the two who've since died, to retake five of their early albums following a yearslong copyright dispute with a record company. The company is in the process of appealing, per the AP.
"We won!" 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, said in a video posted to social media after Wednesday's decision. "All the albums! We got 'em all back!" The copyright case was brought by Lil' Joe Records, which bought the rights to 2 Live Crew's albums after the group's record company filed for bankruptcy in 1995. In 2020, the members of 2 Live Crew and the heirs notified Lil' Joe that they were terminating its copyrights and that ownership of the albums would revert to the artists. In response, Lil' Joe sued, arguing it retained the copyrights under the bankruptcy agreement. The federal jury in Florida decided in favor of 2 Live Crew and the heirs. Among the records at issue is the 1989 release As Nasty as They Wanna Be, which includes the tracks "Me So Horny" and "The F--- Shop."
Law enforcement officials in South Florida considered it so scandalous that they arrested a record store owner for selling it. Campbell and fellow 2 Live Crew member Christopher Wong Won, or Fresh Kid Ice, were also arrested on obscenity charges after performing songs from the album. In 1992 a federal appeals court overturned a court ruling that found the album was obscene. "Our overwhelming and total victory at trial will hopefully serve as a beacon to encourage other artists to brave the legal process to recover their copyrights," attorney Scott Burroughs said in a statement. Richard Wolfe, an attorney representing Lil' Joe, disputed the group's claims, saying the terms of the bankruptcy mean his client retains all the rights. He added that the battle isn't over, noting, "It's round two of a 10-round fight."
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