POP/ROCK - July 20, 1990

Rapping Ruckus: The Ft. Myers (Fla.) News-Press is being investigated by a state official for possible violation of Florida obscenity codes after the newspaper made copies of 2 Live Crew’s sexually explicit lyrics available to adult readers. The newspaper’s executive editor, Everett Landers, didn’t print the lyrics in a June 24 editorial that supported the embattled rappers’ rights to free speech, but offered to make copies available to adults who stopped by the newspaper office. More than 250 people responded. One of them, Phil M. McCorkle, filed a complaint with the Ft. Myers Police Department, which forwarded it to regional state attorney Joseph D’Alessandro. On Feb. 9, Lee County Judge Isaac Anderson ruled that there was “probable cause to believe” that 2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” was obscene.