[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2livecrew_5850.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:The debut album]]

->''Heyyyyy, we want some puuuussyyyyyy!''

->''"When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest."''
-->-- '''William Hazlitt'''

The 2 Live Crew is a [[HipHop Rap]] group from Miami that's mostly known for their plethora of DirtyRap songs.

David "Mr. Mixx" Hobbs originally formed the 2 Live Crew with Fresh Kid Ice and Amazing V. They released their first single, "Revelation", in 1985. Amazing V left the group after that and was replaced by Brother Marquis. They caught the attention of Luther Campbell, a fellow rapper who had his own record label. Luther joined the group and signed them to his Luke Skyywalker Records, which put out their first album, ''The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are'', in 1986. Through word of mouth alone, the album managed to sell enough to go gold. Another album, ''Move Somethin'', followed in 1988.

By the time they released their double album ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' in 1989, the 2 Live Crew had gained nationwide notoriety for their bawdy lyrics and outrageous stage shows. Then they ran afoul of the law when Florida attorney Jack Thompson (who's also infamous for his crusade against violent video games), on behalf of [[MoralGuardians the American Family Association]], sought to press obscenity charges on the group and ban their records from being sold in record stores. The legal battle went all the way to the federal appeals court, which ruled in favor of the 2 Live Crew and dropped the obscenity charges. The U.S. Supreme Court refused the appeal by the prosecutors after that. Amidst all the controversy, ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' sold two million copies.

The court battle led Luther Campbell to become an advocate for free speech, releasing ''Banned In The U.S.A.'' in 1990 to vent his frustrations with MoralGuardians and overprotective government. (But not without having to change the name of his label to Luke Records... that same year Creator/GeorgeLucas successfully sued Luther to make him drop the "Luke Skyywalker" name.)

After releasing a follow-up album ''Sports Weekend'' in 1991, the group disbanded in 1992. Luke and Fresh Kid Ice tried re-forming "The New 2 Live Crew" in 1994 with rapper Verb, but the album they made had little commercial success. Fresh Kid Ice, Brother Marquis and Mr. Mixx then made ''Shake A Lil' Somethin'' in 1996 without Luke or his record label. Since then the 2 Live Crew has been a RevolvingDoorBand, with Fresh Kid Ice as the only constant. The second quote is there because, once the attention brought by the controversy died down, the media ignored them.

Not to be confused with the ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' episode "The Two Live Crew Job."
----
!!Members:
* Fresh Kid Ice a.k.a. Chris Wongwon (the only constant member of the group, who would in fact perform solo, [[IAmTheBand billed as the "2 Live Crew"]], during TheNoughties) Passed away in 2017 of cirrhosis.
* Amazing V a.k.a. Yuri Vielot (1985)
* Brother Marquis a.k.a. Mark Ross (1985-1992, 1995-1998, 2008-present)
* Luke Skyywalker[[note]](used until 1990, thanks to a lawsuit by Lucasfilm)[[/note]] a.k.a. Luther Campbell (1985-1996)
* Mr. Mixx a.k.a. David Hobbs (1985-1998)
* Verb (1994-1995)
* Tiki (1998-2001)

!!Albums:
* 1986 - ''The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are''
* 1988 - ''Move Somethin''
* 1989 - ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be''
* 1990 - ''Banned In The U.S.A.'' (originally billed as "The Luke LP featuring the 2 Live Crew")
* 1991 - ''Sports Weekend: As Nasty As They Wanna Be Part II''
* 1994 - ''Back At Your Ass For The Nine-4''
* 1996 - ''Shake A Lil Somethin''
* 1998 - ''The Real One''

!!2 Live Tropes:
* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: Many, many examples.
* AffectionateParody: Not long after ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' was released, Eric Lambert (MC Moisha) and Joe Stone ([[Music/EazyE Easy Irving]]), calling themselves 2 Live Jews, made an album called ''As Kosher As They Wanna Be''.
* AllMenArePerverts: Well, ''almost'' all men, save for the occasional "Pussy Ass Nigga".
* AudienceParticipationSong: "We Want Some Pussy". On actual live shows, ''all'' their songs will be this in some way or another.
* TheBandMinusTheFace: When they continued on after Luke left.
* BawdySong: Take your pick.
* CallAndResponseSong: Luke was fond of these. "Head Booty & Cock" and "If You Believe In Having Sex" are good examples.
* TheCameo: Brother Marquis, Fresh Kid Ice and Mr. Mixx all appear on the Music/InsaneClownPosse's ''Bootlegged in L.A.'' [=DVD=].
* CampGay: "Hey Jack".
-->"Jack and Bob... I can see you guys humping each otherrrr!"
* CasualKink: "S&M"
* ClusterFBomb: Jack Thompson counted the F-bombs on ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' and announced that "fuck" was heard 199 times. {{Cluster F Bomb}}s are also strategically deployed on "Fuck Martinez".
* ColorMotif: Wore shiny green jackets in their early days.
* CountryMatters: Not much use of the C-word, actually. It does show up in ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' on "Put Her In The Buck".
* DanceSensation: "Throw The D", "Do The [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart]]"
* DirtyRap: A TropeCodifier, their raunchy lyrics, mostly of the IntercourseWithYou variety, got them a lot of attention (both positive and negative).
* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech: Luke's speech in "Banned in the U.S.A", especially everything after "We have the freedom of CHOICE!":
-->"What is this??\\
Is this not America?\\
This is not China!\\
This is not Russia!\\
This is not the place where they brought down the wall, this is America!\\
We have the right to say what we want to say, we have the right to do what we want to do\\
And what I do in my house, you might not do in your house!\\
So what I do in my house is my business!\\
And the simple fact of it all is that we are BONDED by the First Amendment!\\
We have the freedom of EXPRESSION!\\
We have the freedom of CHOICE!\\
And you, Chinese, black, green, purple, Jew\\
YOU have the right to listen to whoever you want to, and even the 2 Live Crew!\\
So all you right-wingers, left-wingers, bigots, Communists\\
There IS a place for you in this world!\\
Because this is the land of the FREE, the home of the BRAVE!\\
And 2 Live is what we are!"
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their first single, "Revelation", is borderline Christian rap.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: In most of their song lyrics, everyone mentioned engages in copious amounts of sex.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' certainly lived up to its name (especially for its time), covering just about every sexual topic short of incest and bestiality.
* FakeOutFadeOut: At the end of "Pop That Pussy".
* FracturedFairyTale: "Dirty Nursery Rhymes", as the title suggests, takes various well known nursery rhymes like "Jack and Jill" and "Little Miss Muffet", and turns them into something much dirtier.
* HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday
* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: "Dick Almighty" has lots of terms for male genitalia.
* IAteWhat: "She thought I came in her mouth, but I was only peein'" - from "My Seven Bizzos"
%%* ImAManICantHelpIt
%%* TheImmodestOrgasm: Kicks off "C'mon Babe".
* IntercourseWithYou: The TropeCodifier in the rap world. Song titles like "We Want Some Pussy", "Face Down Ass Up", and "The Fuck Shop" tell you everything you need to know about their lyrical content. It'd be easier to list the songs that ''don't'' involve sexual activity.
* [[LegacyCharacter Legacy Band]]: The group Poison Clan were known as "The baby 2 Live Crew."
* ListSong: "Fraternity Record", "Fuck Martinez" and any other song that is basically Luke going "Fuck [insert person, place or thing here]!" over and over.
* MaleGaze: The covers of ''Move Somethin''' and ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'', the latter which crosses with BetweenMyLegs.
%%* MiamiBass
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Luke was careful to not use the full names of any of his subjects in "Jack" or any of his "I Ain't Bullshittin'" rants.
* OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope: 2 Live Crew got creative with their copyright warning early on: "Unauthorized reproduction will get you fucked up by the Ghetto Style DJ's."
* PoliticalRap: Much of the material on ''Banned In The U.S.A.'', especially the title track.
* PreachersKid: From "Check It Out Y'all":
-->I met this girl named Keisha, the daughter of a preacher\\
I met her in school and we did it on the bleachers\\
The kids were in gym as I went for a swim\\
I rocked her so good until she wanted it again"
* RatedGForGangsta: ''As Clean As They Wanna Be,'' which did not sell anywhere close to the amount of copies that the original did.
* RearrangeTheSong: "Do Wah Diddy", "Pretty Woman"
** "One And One" uses the melody from the chorus of "All Day And All Of The Night" by Music/TheKinks.
* {{Sampling}}: Of special note are the samples used from comedy acts such as Creator/RichardPryor, Redd Foxx and Blowfly.
** And then there's "Me So Horny", which is almost entirely built around a sample of the [[AsianHookerStereotype Vietnamese hooker]] from ''Film/FullMetalJacket''.
* SelfDeprecation: The intro to ''Sports Weekend'' is a sampling montage that mentions the crew's names interspersed with "He's full of shit" and "They're all full of shit".
%%* SexIsGood
* ShoutOut: A subtle one at the end of "If You Believe In Having Sex"; Luke gets the crowd chanting "Less filling! Tastes great!", a bit from an old Miller Lite ad campaign.
* SomethingBlues: "2 Live Blues". And it's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin... the crew singing a straight-up blues song (albeit with the usual dirty lyrics).
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: "Face Down Ass Up" has them repeatedly extol the titular sex position.
* TakeThat: "Hey Jack", presumably aimed at {{Moral Guardian|s}} Jack Thompson. "Let's see how many times you can get a 'fuck' outta this one!"
** The Jack they're talkin' about is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Jones_(singer) Jack Jones]]!''
** "Fuck Martinez", from ''Banned in the USA'', blasts Bob Martinez, who was the governor of Florida when ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' was released, and had ordered prosecutors to see if the album could be banned for obscenity, and Nick Navarro, the Broward County sherriff who arrested record store owners for selling the album.
* TokenMinority: Fresh Kid Ice is the rare Chinese[[note]]Chinese-Trinidadian[[/note]] rapper and was one of the first, if not ''the'' first Asian-American rappers to find mainstream success.
* WrongfullyAttributed: "Me So Horny" ''sounds'' like a phrase that the 2 Live Crew would invent, but the title (and the accompanying sample) actually comes from the film ''Film/FullMetalJacket''.

----