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'Me So Horny' Rapper Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew Running for Mayor

Feb 4, 2011 – 6:29 PM
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Michael McLaughlin Contributor

"Politics" is the latest dirty word for rapper Luther Campbell to work into his vocabulary.

Campbell, the raunchy rapper from 2 Live Crew, is running for Miami-Dade County mayor in Florida and thinks he could boost the economy with a tax on exotic dancers.

"I'm mad frustrated," Campbell said about crime in his hometown in an interview in the Miami New Times. "Why aren't we getting it right in Miami-Dade? Why is our government only serving one set of people? That's what is pushing me to run."
2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell is running for mayor
Retna / Corbis; Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Pictured is Luther Campbell today, left, and as part of 2 Live Crew in 1990.

The emcee known for the 1989 hit song "Me So Horny" blasted the slow pace of construction at Miami International Airport and the bloated government workforce as wastes of taxpayer money.

He opposes raising taxes and wants to shore up a local hospital that treats a high number of uninsured patients, but a key plank of his platform would be to tax exotic dancers.

"Even though all my stripper friends are gonna be mad at me, I think we can stimulate the economy with a tax on strippers," Campbell told the paper. "They make all this money and don't pay taxes. I'd take that cash and put it into a fund where it supports youth athletics for girls, like cheerleading or softball."

Miami University political science professor George Gonzalez said that the proposal is a joke, but that Campbell, who's a New Times columnist and assistant high school football coach, could be a player in the election.

"Someone like Campbell with his celebrity status describing these unusual issues could attract some voters," Gonzalez told AOL News. "He sounds like he wants to be a serious political candidate. ... I would not necessarily discount him."

On March 15, Miami-Dade County voters head to the polls to recall Mayor Carlos Alvarez. If they vote him out of office, another election will take place later this year in which Campbell could run.

The lyrics of 2 Live Crew -- which were spiked with sexual reference and profanities -- gave Campbell his first taste of politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group became a test case for freedom of speech in 1990 when Florida's Broward County sheriff charged the rappers with obscenity for "Me So Horny." But it wasn't until 1992 that a federal judge threw out the case against them.

Now, Campbell's campaign has spread like the latest off-color joke across South Florida. A radio producer at WHQT 105 cut this campaign rap for the man known as "Uncle Luke": "Attention all you pimps and players, I'd like to introduce Miami's savior, our candidate with major flavor. Uncle Luke is running mayor. ... Luke wants to do his public duty, representing voters with big ole booties."

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But Campbell hasn't made too much noise himself yet about the race. His campaign website -- luke4mayor.com -- is bare bones and hasn't been updated since he announced his run.

He updates his Twitter account unclelukereal1 throughout the day, but his tweets have been more focused on Sunday's Super Bowl game than his political future.

Still, he said that fans have rallied behind him.

"I am so ready to run for this office," he wrote around 3 a.m. on Thursday. "Ppl from all over are telling me do it go for it there with me. I love it ppl r happy about this."
Filed under: Nation, Politics, Weird News, Entertainment
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