2 Live Crew: The Real One

Few musical genres are as constricting as Miami bass, and few bands are as unambitious or as seemingly disposable as 2 Live Crew. Yet nearly a decade and a half after the artist formerly known as Luke Skyywalker and 2 Live Crew put out "Throw The D," 2 Live Crew resembles a cultural institution. But unlike N.W.A and Body Count, bands that have also been the target of censors, 2 Live Crew has never been a political act. Instead, it has survived largely on the strength of sheer chutzpah: 2 Live Crew may not have the world's greatest rappers, but it could be the most shameless group in the history of rap. On The Real One, 2 Live Crew's shamelessness transcends merely carrying on after the departure of leader Luther Campbell. It transcends merely abandoning any semblance of political conscience by dissing Campbell and his black-run label and signing with Li'l Joe Records, a company run by one Joseph Weinberger, whose rap credibility consists of working as Campbell's former lawyer. No, 2 Live Crew's most surreally shameless act on The Real One is recording a song called "Raise The Roof," which also, coincidentally, happens to be the title of Campbell's biggest post-Crew hit. The Real One is the group's second post-Campbell release, and it finds 2 Live Crew as monomaniacal as ever, still devoting the vast majority of its attention to a view of the world as essentially a giant strip club. Naturally, the duo sees itself as a couple of strip-club patrons whose relative fame and fortune give them the opportunity to approach women who would never give them the time of day if they weren't in 2 Live Crew. At its best, The Real One is as funky as it is morally abhorrent. Most of the time, however, it's just morally abhorrent. Beyond some fairly inventive production work and nimble if moronic rapping from Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice, The Real One is worthless. But that's never stopped these guys before, so don't expect it to stop them now.