2 Live Crew

With some cheap drum machines and the raunchiest lyrics this side of Blowfly, 2 Live Crew introduced the Miami booty-bass sound on 1989’s infamous, misogynistic sex-rap manifesto As Nasty As They Wanna Be, an album that wound its way through strip clubs and teenage bedrooms before finding itself at the center of Tipper Gore’s “Parental Advisory” campaign. Dozens of hearings, a few record store arrests, and one dismissal by the Supreme Court later, the group more or less faded into novelty once the controversy died down and “Me So Horny” stopped being funny. These days, only Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice remain from the original Crew; their long-in-the-works album, Just Wanna Be Heard!, is slated for release in 2009.

Updated 06/17/2009