WWW- Luther Campbell’s fame has long been intertwined with raunch. From his days as the leader of the rap outfit 2 Live Crew – whose sexually explicit songs tested the limits of decency all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court – to his solo albums and burgeoning porn business, Campbell is not what you would think of as family friendly.

So it may surprise people to see him walk on a neighborhood football field to oversee a bunch of kids in his new National Youth Football League. He has joined forces with the Orange Bowl’s youth foundation to create the league, which Campbell hopes will grow beyond his home in Miami-Dade County.

On a recent evening, about 750 people were watching the first two games, and almost everybody there knew Campbell; People lined up to take pictures with him and he doled out advice to 10-year-olds wearing helmets and shoulder pads who know him only as Uncle Luke.

But there is another side of Uncle Luke – which Campbell details with the recently released “Uncle Luke: My Life & Freaky Times,” an audio book which also comes with a CD soundtrack. The tales he tells on the disc are certainly not for children’s ears – some adults may not be able to stomach all the exploits he describes in graphic detail.

But approve or disapprove of his lyrics and music videos, few can accuse Campbell of holding back or censoring himself.

AP: I told some friends I was going to your house for an interview, and their responses were the same: Don’t let the ladies get you! Does perception match reality here?

Campbell: There’s a time and place for everything. Everybody gets it all twisted. They automatically think, `Oh, I’m going to Luke’s house, they’re swingin’ on the chandeliers.’ That’s the biggest joke of all time. Not necessarily. I’m a human person just like anybody else, just like Hugh Hefner, just like Larry Flynt, just like anybody else. I do my work. My work is my work and my home is my home. … When I go out and party, I’m like a grown person who is going to go party and do what they wanna do. Unfortunately, I have a lot of girls with me that go out to these adult establishments and party, and we party hard – I don’t take no drugs or nothin’ like that – we go and party and we do what we do.

AP: How important are youth leagues to kids?

Campbell: All of it is really teaching responsibility, real-life issues that we as adults got to deal with, and giving the kids those responsibilities on the field and letting them know, “You are responsible for this area right here and you’re responsible for working as a team together and you’re responsible for getting your grades in order to get to the point where you can actually get on the field.”

AP: Borrowing one of your phrases, you’re newest CD it’s as raunchy as it has always been. And in the audio book, you tell a lot of your stories. Why are you doing this now?

Campbell: I did the audio book knowing that a lot of my audience may not necessarily go and pick up the book … I think it’s really important, because I don’t think nobody has ever touched on a lot of the history. I’m (looking) on AOL and I see the 25 years of hip-hop, historical moments in hip-hop and me nor 2 Live Crew or nothing I ever did gets mentioned. Then I look on VH1, “VH1 special, 25 years in hip-hop, people who made great things happen.” Don’t even get a call.

AP: So they don’t appreciate your contributions?

Campbell: They don’t appreciate it at all. This whole industry. I look at “Lifetime Achievement Award, BET” – Master P? “Lifetime Achievement Award, Source magazine” – LL Cool J. It’s Russell Simmons, Russell Simmons, Russell Simmons. … Who was the first independent black-owned and operated rap label? Who started this whole thing about wanting to own their own company? None of these stories get told and these kids are getting younger and they’re being fed the wrong stuff because the guys from New York and California, they got much more of the big machine behind them and they want to push you, shove you Russell all the time. Russell is a great guy and I’ve got a lot of respect for him, but it’s like he’s the only one with any history.

AP: Back in the day, did you party more than now?

Campbell: I’m no different than, put it this way, a lot of guys that come to my party. They come to my parties because they want to see the wild and crazy and everybody free and loose and things going on. I’m pretty sure Bill Gates’ parties are like that. Bill Gates might have a party where they get down with the get down.

AP: The perception is that your videos objectified women. How do you feel about that?

Campbell: Some people take what I do out of context and say it’s degrading. If you go to my shows, all you see is women. It’s 70 percent women, 30 percent men. All my music is woman-driven. … People who are not fans, they’ll say this is appalling, which is understandable. It’s just they don’t understand it.

AP: What’s your lasting legacy in rap?

Campbell: With my music, it was blacks and whites listening equally … The PTAs and the white organizations were coming after me because their kids were buying it. If I was to leave here tomorrow, I want that to be my legacy. I brought races together through my music.