ABSTRACT
In 1990, 2 Live Crew’s battles with the Florida judicial system brought the Miami-based rap group to national prominence as they faced prosecution on the grounds of obscenity for their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be. “Nasty” appeals to the prurient interest for several reasons. First, its lyrics and the titles of its songs are replete with references to female and male genitalia, human sexual excretion, oral-anal contact, fellatio, group sex, specific sexual positions, sado-masochism, and the turgid state of the male sexual organ, masturbation, cunnilingus, sexual intercourse, and the sounds of moaning. Professor Long also cited several different examples of literary devices such as rhyme and allusion which appear in “Nasty,” and points to the song title “Dick Almighty” as an example of the literary device of personification. An obscene work stimulates bodily sexual arousal that the higher faculties recognize as base.
