Exclusive: Joe Stone On Whether The 2 Live Jews Knew Luke Campbell & The 2 Live Crew
Henry Stone was a music industry legend who set up more than 100 record labels. He was instrumental in the careers of James Brown, Ray Charles and KC & The Sunshine Band – to name a few legends – and altogether instrumental in the mainstream expansion of the R&B, disco and hip-hop genres. His namesake company, Henry Stone Music, lives on through his son Joe, while Stone’s legacy itself lives on through the award-winning documentary film The Record Man.
But Joe Stone is no music business slouch himself. L’Trimm, Gucci Crew II and 2 Unlimited are among the artists who Joe Stone helped build careers for. However, my favorite project which Joe Stone has been part of was easily the 2 Live Jews. At quick glance, the 2 Live Jews — as co-founded with Eric Lambert — was a Judaism-centric, novelty-oriented, humorous take on the 2 Live Crew. Beyond the similar artist names, the 2 Live Jews had a 1990 album called As Kosher As They Wanna Be (2 Live Crew had As Nasty As They Wanna Be) and a video for “Oy So Humid” (2 Live Crew, of course, had a hit with “Me So Horny”). Yet 2 Live Jews would release another four studio albums — in addition to a one-off single in 2010 called “What’s With The Pants” — and the group continues to live on infamy.
I was able to track down Joe Stone and schedule an in-depth phone interview with him about the past, present and future of the 2 Live Jews. Within our chat — as embedded below — I asked Stone what Luke Campbell and his legendary 2 Live Crew thought of Stone, Lambert and the 2 Live Jews:
“He was super-cool with it. He thought it was funny and fun. The thing is I knew Luke for many many years before that, because when Luke was coming up as a DJ, as you know Luke Skywalker the DJ at The Pac Jam, before he was even involved with 2 Live Crew… I used to go hang out and sell Miami Bass records that I was involved in… I had produced and did all the beats for the Gucci Crew II for their first three albums and engineered all those albums for those guys. I was friendly with them so whenever I would have one of these new Miami Bass records I would call [Disco] Rick up and say, ‘Hey you going to be there tonight? He’d be like, ‘Yes I’m coming down.’ ‘Let’s get Luke to play some of these records so I can sell some out of my trunk in the parking lot.’ So then you know they would do that. Like would play some of the new Miami Bass records that I would bring, and then he would announce that I had some for sale in the parking lot… for half-price of what you could buy them for in the store.”
More information on Joe Stone, Henry Stone, The Record Man, the Henry Stone Music USA catalog and the 2 Live Jews can be found online at www.henrystonemusic.com.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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