LUTHER CAMPBELL
As hip-hop's original bad boy, pop culture icon, and consummate businessman, Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell, is one of the few American celebrities who has had an indelible impact on the worlds of rap music, sex, business, law, and politics simultaneously. The first Southern rap star to emerge on the Billboard Pop Charts with "Move Something," Luther Campbell also established the first independent hip-hop label in The Dirty South with Luke Records, (originally named Skyywalker Records) in 1983. After seeing how much money Luke Records made from releasing their music independently and how much freedom it offered artistically, everyone wanted to own and operate their own record label. This accomplishment was groundbreaking because Luke Records was the first and only
African-American owned and operated label. Campbell made national headlines in the early 1990s as a part of The 2 Live Crew when he led one of Hip-Hop's most noted victories in society -- the right of Freedom of Speech in our music. His highly publicized obscenity trials and Supreme Court parody cases were First Amendment victories upon
which the entertainment industry still benefits.
In 2000, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored Campbell's contribution to hip-hop by including photographs of him and items of his clothing in its "Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage" exhibit.
In 2004, Luke won the very first Free Speech Coalition "Celebrity Freedom Fighter Award" for his free speech clashes with the federal government. The Free Speech Coalition is the trade association bible for the adult entertainment awards. Campbell's fight for artist freedom of expression paved the way for the lyrical freedom enjoyed today’s artists. A constant trendsetter, Luther Campbell's brand exceeds far beyond what you'd imagine.
He is not just a company he is an enterprise.
Luther Campbell is now Coach Campbell to the young players in the National Youth Football League, which is affiliated with The Liberty City Warriors, a youth football organization he co-founded in 1989 in his hometown to keep wayward boys out of trouble. After spending nearly two decades mentoring inner city youth as a co-founder of The Liberty City program, Campbell felt it was time to do even more for the youth of South Florida's recreational football. "I'm excited about this opportunity to develop the National Youth Football League and to be a part of the Orange Bowl Youth Football
League," said Campbell. The Liberty City Warriors' won the Pop Warner National Championship in 2005 but Campbell considers the real accomplishment to be the
progression of the kids academically. "The majority of our kids in the Liberty City program show progression in their academics from year to year. In fact, one of our kids was a
failing student at the start of the season, but by the time we reached the Super Bowl he was an all 'A' student. With the academic progress reporting system that we have implemented, I'd like to think that we are not only helping develop great athletes but scholars as well.
No matter what your personal views about Luther Campbell, you can't discount his influence on the entertainment industry, his business acumen, and his place as the Godfather of Southern Hip-Hop. If the mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete and everything behind you bears your mark then by today’s artists. Luther "Uncle Luke," Campbell has left his mark on the American culture as a whole. If you ask Uncle Luke, he simply wants to be respected for his contribution and acknowledged as "the man who brought artist entrepreneurship into hip-hop and fought for your First Amendment Right!
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