Over the past 20 years, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell has been no stranger to making mouths drop. But whether in shock or awe, the fact that the father to both the Southern Bass sound and the sexual music video movement, has fought his way for and in an industry that in his opinion doesn’t appreciate his contributions is undeniable. From going up against the Supreme Court to discuss freedom of speech and imagery, to turning Miami to the most hottest cities on the planet; Luke has done it all in the name of his love for Hip-Hop. But despite his battles, many have criticized Luke as not as a pioneer in the craft, but more as a destructive force on the game who’s raunchy videos have led to the less creative counterpart of Hip-Hop that we see today.
Despite his raunchier public persona, this West Indian born father of three has a softer side. Although over the years he has been painted as a womanizer and the king of video hoes, the real personal side of Luke is far from it. While he has been seen publicly with an entourage of women, it wasn’t until 2000 that Luke had his first girlfriend. The relationship which lasted a little over a year ended in heart break for the live emcee, although dealing with the issue for the first time Luke states it hasn’t deterred him from pursuing a relationship again.
With so much that is unknown about the Miami bred party emcee, Luke has decided to top off his two and a half decades in the game with the release of his long awaited audio book Uncle Luke – My Life & Freaky Times, the three-disc box set contains two tell-all audio books which will not only chronicle Luke’s freakiest escapades and nastiest tales from the notorious rapper’s life, but also will allow you to know who he is and he came to be known as the freakiest man in the industry. AllHipHop.com got a chance to sit down with Miami’s main man in charge and find out why he’s so under appreciated and where he intends to go from here.
AllHipHop.com: Although a lot of people think that your audio book is being released due to the enormous success of Karrine “Super Head” Steffans’ book, Confessions of a Video Vixen, you have actually been planning this book for a while, why did you decide to release your tell all book now?
Luke: Honestly, I don’t know my book and her book are even in the same category, this book deals with more than just freaky stories with my girls and celebrities, that’s just a small part. The basis of the book is about me and my life. It talks about how I started in Hip-Hop and my career; it is just full of stories and things that have taken place in my life. The difference between she and I is that she wrote her book in anger, I am not angry at anyone.
AllHipHop.com: What about the celebrity stories, you are dishing dirt on everyone from Sisqo to Aaron Hall; why did you choose to include these celebrity romps in your book?
Luke: People are always coming up and asking me what happened at this party and that party, but when I tell theses stories, I am not telling it to get back at a celebrity or anything. The stories I am telling, like with Aaron Hall and Gloria Velez, is just to talk about how far people will go to prove a point in this industry. Yeah Gloria [Velez] may get mad, but it’s a part of my life. Overall, I don’t want the few celebrity stories to outweigh the fact that the book is about my life, and how I became a part of 2 Live Crew, and ultimately to where I am today. There is so much that people don’t know about me or have even cared to ask and that is what I am trying to show people who I am.
AllHipHop.com: After all of the contributions you have made to the industry, such as going up against the Supreme Court but also bringing Hip-Hop to Miami which was initially looked at as retirement hotspot; why do you think that you are still continuing to be overlooked when people think of pioneers in the game?
Luke: What I am mad at is the journalist and stations that do these Hip-Hop tributes and conveniently forget to add the 2 Live Crew. It’s like everyone wants to forget what we did, and how we paved the way, actually fought for videos and artists to sound and look like they do. Even if the stations and magazines want to overlook me, these so called Hip-Hop journalists should step up and say something about what 2 Live Crew and I have done for this industry.
AllHipHop.com: Do you feel that the raunchy persona you appear to have has anything to do with the way you are snub by networks and during tributes?
Luke: I do, but I didn’t set out for me to appear they way I do to people. This is so far from the way that 2 Live Crew and I intended it to go. When we started, we were very in to the comedy that Redd Foxx was doing, and we thought it would be funny to incorporate that into music and Rap, next thing you know we are being called lewd and disgusting, when we thought that what were doing was funny. We were called it so much that we were like, “If people are going to boycott us and talk about us and we aren’t doing anything wrong, let’s get lewd and crude and give them something to talk about”. But honestly, I blame the media for turning my name and 2 Live Crew into what it is known as now. But regardless of how you feel about what I do, you still shouldn’t deny me or my contributions to this industry. Every one and their mommas are claiming to love Hip-Hop, those are the ones who should step up and say something, if you really care about the roots of this music.
AllHipHop.com: Seeing countless emcees given awards and continuously being overlooked by panels, as well by some not even being considered a part of Hip-Hop, how do you handle it?
Luke: Honestly, I’m hurt and I can’t lie. I get angry because I am human. But the way I have been treated over the past 20 years has played a major role in why I am no longer going to make music. After this album that I am releasing with this book, I am done with music and I am going to be launching my own adult magazine and entertainment business. I am going there, because over there, they don’t care about who you know or what label you are signed to. There are so many things that I have done that I receive no credit for, it’s ridiculous. All people want to do is label me as the womanizer or being crude, what about the fact that I was the first Black label owner in the South to put out and develop only Southern artists? Or the fact that a lot of the artists from the South that are getting all of this recognition worked with me in one way or another. I worked with Lil’ Jon, I knew him when he was over at So So Def spinning Bass music and creating Crunk while people were treating him like a stepchild. I developed Pitbull, Trick Daddy, the list goes on and on. But no one wants to speak on that.
AllHipHop.com: Let’s speak a little on your personal life, in your book you reveal that your first sexual experience was with two women at once. Do you think that experience desensitized you to sex?
Luke: Yeah, I do. I mean, I was like 13 or 14 years old and while they were getting it on I was in the corner laughing. [laughs] But it taught me as I got older, that women won’t deal with someone who they think will run around telling what they do in the bed room. In high school, I was always the guy who no one ever suspected of having women because I never talked about it.
AllHipHop.com: A lot of people know you are from Miami, but few know that you are of West Indian descent; did your background play a lot in the creation of the Bass sound?
Luke: It did. It played a major part in the creation of Bass. Back when I was a DJ, I was the only one spinning Hip-Hop and Reggae in the clubs in Miami. But my mother is from Nassau, and my father being from Jamaica, definitely played a role in the way I used bass to create music, if you listen to it, Miami Bass sounds a lot like music from the West Indies, but with our own Miami spin on it. That’s what I set out to do when I do anything; I always strive to be the first when I do anything. Never a follower always a leader, that’s just who I am.
AllHipHop.com: On another note, we all know about Luke the Entertainer; what about Luke the father? Having two daughters and working with nothing but overtly sexual women how does that work out?
Luke: My daughters are 15 and 18, and they know who I am. They don’t live with me, and it’s really good for them that they don’t, because they would be under the strictest curfew. But I think that the biggest misconception about me is that I hate women. I don’t hate women, I love women and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. When I am calling a woman a hoe or a b*tch, I am not talking about the woman who is working and taking care of her family and husband; I am talking about the one who is trying so hard to get backstage that she is willing to sleep with everybody. I mean I didn’t have a girlfriend until six years ago by choice, because I never wanted to lie to a woman. So no, I don’t hate women. The girls that work with me, all I do is pay them to dance at the parties. If they are out getting money on the side, that’s their choice. I am not paying them to sleep with anyone, nor am I pimping them and taking their money. But no one cares about the truth. All they care about is sex and dissing Luke. I know one day, someone will recognize what I have done and it will be celebrated; I just hope I am not dead when it happens.