2 Live Crew on Video : Filmmaker Spheeris--The Rap Days

Having made movies about teen killers and punk misfits and two documentaries called “The Decline of Western Civilization,” Penelope Spheeris isn’t exactly a shrinking-violet filmmaker. Still, after directing a video portrait of 2 Live Crew, she was amazed at how quickly she got caught up in the notorious rappers’ mind set.

“I know it sounds weird, but the lyrics really stay with you,” said Spheeris, who spent a week on the road with the controversial rap outfit last month. “I’ve been finding myself walking around the house, making dinner, singing ‘Me So Horny’ over and over.”

Spheeris is probably one of the few filmmakers with a strong enough stomach to handle making a 2 Live Crew video.

Titled “Banned in the U.S.A.,” it’s been rush-released this week to capitalize on the hoopla surrounding the Miami-based group since June 6, when its “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” album was declared obscene by a U.S. District Court in Florida.

The video features 47 minutes of live performances and interviews, both with besieged Crew chief Luther Campbell and such critics as the head of a Dallas decency league. It also includes hair-raising footage of a wild riot by outraged fans after the group canceled a performance, maintaining they hadn’t been paid in advance.

“Truthfully, that was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” said the Los Angeles filmmaker, who worked around-the-clock on the project. “There were chairs flying over my head. I finally had to leave because I simply feared for my life. My cameraman kept shooting, but I was watching the ambulances pulling up, just hoping no one had died.”

The video has plenty of titillating concert footage (“There’s a scene where these girls come up on stage and the guys in the group practically have sex with them,” Spheeris said), but she insisted it’s not a puff-style endorsement of the group.

“Some of the footage shows the guys looking like jerks,” she said. “I’m a social documentarian, so I’m just presenting the situation here as objectively as possible. I say, ‘Here it is. Decide for yourself.’ ”

Still, the video is clearly an authorized portrayal of the band. The only critics given air time by Spheeris are members of fringe groups like Concerned Women of America. Jack Thompson, the Florida crusader who has been the group’s most vocal opponent, isn’t on hand largely because, as Spheeris put it, “Luther can’t stand him and didn’t want him in the video.”

As a critically admired filmmaker who has explored the punk and heavy-metal subcultures, Spheeris says she was initially shocked--and then intrigued--by the group’s graphic lyrics and stage show.

“The coarseness of the language does bother me, though I’d obviously like to see lyrics with a more positive message,” she said. “But I was dealt with far more respectfully by Luther than I was by most of the heavy-metal bands I’ve worked with. The metal scene is much more sexist than rap.”

Spheeris sees rap as a means for youths to create an identity for themselves. “It helps them define where they stand,” she said. “It’s also a way to vent anger. That’s how Luther sees it. You go to his concerts to get out all your pent-up energy and frustration.

“But sometimes it seems a little scary. You wonder what happens if a guy watches all this near-sex on stage and says, ‘Geez, I better finish this off on the way home.’ ”

Spheeris contends that the group’s attitude toward women isn’t any more sexist than the portrayal of women by Andrew Dice Clay or many heavy-metal bands. And she believes that racism has played a part in the targeting of 2 Live Crew for obscenity charges.

“I think their being black has made it worse for them. When black men start dealing with sex and eroticism, white America gets very nervous. You see Eddie Murphy talking about sex in his comedy act, but you don’t see (that much) sex in his movies. These guys have a big beat, sexy dancers and it has a whole lot more impact.”

According to conservative commentators like George Will and Pat Buchanan, the “filthy and blasphemous art” of rap groups like 2 Live Crew has helped create a popular culture polluted by obscenity, violence against women, drugs and crime. Spheeris views the problem from a different perspective.

“2 Live Crew isn’t going to turn small kids into sex perverts,” she said. “I think parents should take a much bigger share of the blame for social ills than pop culture. The damage is done way before kids are old enough to listen to this stuff.

“There’s no doubt that people like Luther Campbell are making a lot of money off of shock value these days. But he’s also made us think about our feelings about freedom of speech. I think it’s amazing that a bunch of ghetto kids can force the American public to re-examine the Constitution. And as a filmmaker I have no problems being involved in that process at all.”