Which 1989 album by 2 Live Crew was the first U.S. album ruled legally obscene?

2 Live Crew’s 1989 album As Nasty as They Wanna Be was the first U.S. album ruled legally obscene.

A Florida federal judge declared the album obscene in 1990 after local officials and law-enforcement authorities challenged its sexually explicit lyrics. The ruling made the record a major test of the boundary between artistic expression and community obscenity standards.

The decision affected more than the album itself. 2 Live Crew performed in the area after the ruling, and members were arrested on obscenity-related charges. Those charges were later rejected, and an appeals court overturned the obscenity ruling, holding that the album had artistic value under the applicable legal standard.

The controversy is often confused with the Parental Advisory label system, which emerged from a separate music-industry and political dispute. As Nasty as They Wanna Be became a central free-speech case because a court, rather than only a retailer or label, formally addressed the album’s legal status.