S. Samuel
Defending his decision to run for mayor of Miami-Dade County, former 2 Live Crew member Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell has explained why placing a tax on adult entertainment is needed in his hometown.
Luke also believes his hip-hop seniority has helped him develop a keen political sense.
“When you’re in the music business and you’re as controversial as our group [was] throughout the years, you kind of have to know politics,” Campbell tells Rolling Stone. “There have been so many years where I already was thinking about running for office. It just wasn’t the proper time..If we do a stripper tax – take that money, set it aside, and have it go directly to youth programs as well as battered women programs that have been cut back – I would think that the strippers and exotic dancers will be happy about that, because they’ll see their money going to something that’s good.” (Rolling Stone)
Imagining himself as mayor, Luke previously said he would enforce exotic dancers to pay taxes to better the community.
“Even though all my stripper friends are gonna be mad at me, I think we can stimulate the economy with a tax on strippers. They make all this money and don’t pay taxes. I’d take that cash and put it into a fund where it supports youth athletics for girls like cheerleading or softball. Or it can go to help pay for existing little girls programs that are struggling to get government assistance.” (Miami New Times)
He also described his frustrations with current Miami mayor Carlos Alvarez‘s lackluster efforts to create more jobs.
“I am mad frustrated. I have always been involved in politics, going back to my battles in the city of Miami Beach, dealing with the city commissioners and the mayor. I ran my own nightclub, and I believed African-Americans were treated badly during Memorial Day weekend. I’ve thought about running for public office before, but someone would always end up talking me out of it, saying, ‘We have this good person here, he will do good for the community,’ so I always backed out. But I’d end up frustrated because they didn’t do anything. I’d give them ideas and they would just tell me what they wanted to hear.” (Miami New Times)
Last month, Luke said a run at mayor would be inspired if Mayor Alvarez was removed in March.
The recall for Mayor Alvarez has been set for March 15. There have been efforts to recall Alvarez since December 2009, but there were initially not enough signatures necessary. The possibilities of a recall gained steam again this past September when county commissioners passed a budget that raised property taxes and increased the salaries of county employees. (XXL Mag)
Check out some past Uncle Luke footage down below:
