When a Broward County, Florida, circuit court found rap group 2 Live Crew's raunchy 1990 album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be, to be obscene, the decision was not only rap's biggest legal challenge yet, but it also marked the first time any musical recording had been judged in violation of decency standards. 2 Live Crew and its outspoken leader, Luther "Luke" Campbell, were acquitted of obscenity charges in 1990, but the case was widely debated throughout American media and in academic circles alike. In this piece, Henry Louis Gates Jr., a W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, the chair of Afro—American Studies, and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro—American Research at Harvard University, connects 2 Live Crew's lyrics to a rich African American cultural heritage and argues that As Nasty as They Wanna Be is valid and defensible free speech.
