Is this not America?
Former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell is planning to run for Congress to rep his home state of Florida — accompanied by a flashy documentary film to chronicle his challenge to the Washington establishment, The Post can confirm.
Campbell, 63, the frontman of the hip-hop legends whose 1989 album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” was the center of a landmark obscenity case, told Page Six last week that he was plotting a run for federal office.
“I’m gonna make an announcement in a couple of weeks,” he said. “I think I have a great chance of winning.”
Campbell, also known as “Uncle Luke,” officially launched a political committee in January to explore unseating incumbent Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) in the Sunshine State’s 20th Congressional District, The Bulwark reported Friday.
Campbell, better known as a diehard fan of University of Miami football than for politics, will hope to channel his star power against the incumbent, who has already been endorsed by House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — while being as nasty as he wants to be to Republicans like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and former President Donald Trump.
“I get to fight these mother f–kers,” Campbell told the Bulwark in an interview. “Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump, and all these crazy-ass Republicans who want to divide us.”
“I’m living my ideal. I have the opportunity to bring something back to the community,” Campbell added.
“As Nasty As They Wanna Be” — an album on which the leadoff track, “Me So Horny,” sampled lurid come-ons spoken by a Vietnamese prostitute in Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 war flick “Full Metal Jacket — was declared legally obscene in 1990 by South Florida federal judge Jose Gonzalez, Jr.
The ruling threatened to find music sellers criminally liable for distributing the album and muzzle artists with explicit lyrics.
The Gonzalez ruling was overturned two years later by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit — and 2 Live Crew members were acquitted in a separate trial after being arrested for performing some of the album’s songs in concert.
The controversy surrounding the album led to the group’s 1990 chart-topping song “Banned in the U.S.A.,” which featured bars on the initial court decision, their subsequent arrest and a full-throated defense of “freedom of expression.”
Campbell went on to media stardom as the owner of his own rap label and host of the show “Luke’s Parental Advisory” on VH1 — a nod to the “explicit content warning” sticker slapped on albums, which he takes credit for inspiring.
The Miami native has also had a successful career as a youth and high school football coach, training top NFL players like Chad Ochocinco, and as a producer elevating rappers such as Pitbull to superstardom.
As a columnist for the Miami New Times, Campbell trashed then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) during her presidential campaign in 2019 over her record as a prosecutor — but changed his tune seven months later and has since been invited to the White House by the vice president.
With his national profile, Campbell would be able to rake in lucrative campaign donations for his 2024 run — and has already consulted with politicos in South Florida and a Los Angeles-based documentary film crew in preparation, according to the Bulwark.
The rapper ran an unsuccessful race for Miami-Dade County mayor in 2011 and floated a gubernatorial challenge to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
His older brother, Stanley Campbell, has already announced a primary challenge in the Florida Democratic Senate primary to Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who is looking to unseat GOP Sen. Rick Scott in November.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who succeeded longtime Rep. Alcee Hastings in a 2022 special election, may also be more vulnerable amid a House Ethics Committee probe of potential campaign finance violations.
She aroused suspicion by personally loaning her campaign more than $6 million before winning the special race by just five votes — and then paying herself back around $2.5 million, Federal Election Commission filings show.
According to House financial disclosures, Cherfilus-McCormick recorded up to $545,000 in assets in 2022, along with a student loan balance of between $150,000 and $350,000.
If Campbell files paperwork to run by April 26, he will face off with Cherfilus-McCormick in the Aug. 20 primary.
