Photo by Jake Pierce
Audio By Carbonatix
Uncle Luke, Miami native and former leader of 2 Live Crew, has set his sights on becoming the next state congressman for the 20th District.
Luther Campbell, aka Uncle Luke, said he was going to run for that seat two years ago. He also ran for Miami-Dade Mayor in 2011. It was a crowded race of 11 candidates, and he came out in fourth place with only “$10,000 dollars in my account,” he remembers. The federal seat he’s vying for covers portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties and is currently held by the embattled Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
“What I heard is what I already know, it is a very underserved community … The representation of the district is not there,” he said in an interview with WPLG Local 10, where he made the announcement Sunday.
“If the (sitting) congresswoman was doing her job, then I would not get in the race,” he said. Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted in November 2025 on 15 federal counts, including fraud for stealing $5 million in pandemic-era FEMA funds and making illegal campaign contributions.
Uncle Luke is credited with establishing one of the first rap groups (2 Live Crew) in the early ’80s and one of the first rap labels in Southern hip-hop. Some of his most popular songs include “I Wanna Rock,” “Do It Do It,” and “It’s Your Birthday.” As a Miami native, he has deep ties to South Florida, working as a cook at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach before his rap career took off; the former head football coach at Miami Edison High School; and writing as a columnist for New Times beginning in 2010.
“I looked very seriously about running in this race,” Uncle Luke said. “I want to take a real, serious look at it, and go into the communities and talk to people.”
“It’s the perfect time, I was thinking about doing it in the last cycle, but it wasn’t the right time because I needed to do a lot of things to get myself prepared, I needed to do more outreach to the community,” he told Local 10. “I go and meet with the stakeholders, not necessarily with politicians but with individuals that’s in the community and I go have conversations with them.”
