Uncle Luke of the 2 Live Crew has opened up about throwing hands with Run-DMC and Redman for “disrespecting” Southern Hip Hop.
In a video posted to Instagram, the Miami Bass pioneer reminisced over the South’s literal fight for respect in the rap game in the 1980s and 1990s, when lyrically-minded MCs from the East Coast were seen by many as superior.
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“Do you know how many fights I had to have? We was in Biloxi, Mississippi and got into fisticuffs with Run-DMC on stage because we was them n-ggas from Miami and we were ‘Bama,” he said. “Everybody had disrespect for us. We weren’t supposed to be in Hip Hop.”
Luke also said that he and 2 Live Crew once “got into fisticuffs with Redman” and took issue with the New Jersey native’s mid-song skit on 1992’s “I’m a Bad” which made fun of their distinct style of music and slang.
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The “Me So Horny” hitmaker went on to revisit similar grievances with Salt-N-Pepa, Kid ‘n Play and Eric B. & Rakim.
“We were in Louisiana with Salt-N-Pepa and Kid ‘n Play. They got on BET and said, ‘That shit that they doing in Miami is not Hip Hop.’ When I saw them, I had to have a conversation with them,” he said.
“Went to Memphis, Eric B. & Rakim, they gave us three minutes [to perform]. Back then, I’m converting from being a street dude to this music thing so I got a lot of street still in me.”
This is not the first time that uncle Luke has called out the perceived lack of respect shown to Southern Hip Hop.
“Hip Hop fans from Florida. Don’t be upset they don’t recognize your favorite Floridian artists as part of Hip Hop’s 50th year celebrations,” he wrote on Instagram. “This industry has never considered us as Hip Hop from the time I started Hip Hop in the South.
“You can only imagine the names they called us. Country booty music, trash music. I can go on and on [about] the disrespect towards Florida Hip Hop.”
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He continued: “Still to this day, we fight for our respect, and you have stood behind us every step of the way. We will continue fighting. There will be a day this year where we come together and celebrate Florida Hip Hop artists from the top of the state to the bottom.”
Snoop Dogg caught wind of the comments and showed love to Luke, commenting on his post: “I love and respect what u did for me and my hip hop journey uncle Luke on and off the mic [microphone emoji] let’s do a southwest Hip hop celebration so we can get the flowers to you and the other founders who mean so much to this thang called hip hop.”
