Brother Marquis, mainstay of hip-hop’s 2 Live Crew, dies at 57 (2024)

Brother Marquis, a foundational member of the rap group 2 Live Crew, the raunchy Miami-based outfit whose sexually explicit lyrics delighted fans and dismayed local prosecutors, sparking a national debate over freedom of expression, died June 3 at his home in Gadsden, Ala. He was 57.

His death was confirmed by 2 Live Crew’s manager, DJ Debo, who said the cause was not known. The group announced his death on social media Monday but did not share details.

Well before the emergence of rap provocateurs such as Ludacris, Lil’ Kim and Megan Thee Stallion, 2 Live Crew honed a sound that was unabashedly coarse and crude, dancing across the bounds of good taste while incorporating dirty words and titillating descriptions of sex in songs such as “We Want Some P---y,” “Hoochie Mama” and “One and One,” a filthy reinterpretation of the Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night.”

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Ignoring critics who deemed the group’s lyrics sexist and misogynistic, Brother Marquis (born Mark Demetrius Ross) provided some of its most mischievous rhymes, helping anchor a core lineup that included DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs) and fellow rappers Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell).

“I’m like a dog in heat, a freak without warning,” Marquis rapped on one of 2 Live Crew’s biggest singles, “I have an appetite for sex, ’cause me so horny.”

Featuring dialogue sampled from the Stanley Kubrick film “Full Metal Jacket,” “Me So Horny” became the group’s first Top 40 hit, topping the Billboard rap chart and opening 2 Live Crew’s third album, “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” (1989), with a bang — or rather a moan.

The album horrified conservatives, evangelicals and anti-pornography crusaders, and in 1990 it became the first record to be declared legally obscene by a federal court. U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez wrote in his opinion that the record appealed “to dirty thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind.”

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Days later, a Fort Lauderdale record store owner was arrested for selling the album to an undercover officer. After performing songs from the album at a show in Hollywood, Fla., Marquis and the group’s two other rappers were also arrested on misdemeanor obscenity charges. (Mr. Mixx, who had been manning the turntables, avoided the charges, which carried a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.)

While the store owner’s conviction was overturned on appeal, the 2 Live Crew rappers were acquitted after a trial that included expert testimony from literary scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., then a professor at Duke University.

“These young artists are acting out, to lively dance music, a parodic exaggeration of the age-old stereotypes of the oversexed black female and male,” Gates wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Times, defending the group against accusations of obscenity. He added that in 2 Live Crew’s music, “parody reigns supreme, from a take-off of standard blues to a spoof of the black power movement; their off-color nursery rhymes are part of a venerable Western tradition.”

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A federal appeals court overturned the initial obscenity ruling in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear additional arguments in the case, although in 1994 it ruled on behalf of 2 Live Crew in a separate dispute, concluding that the group’s parody of “Oh, Pretty Woman,” the Roy Orbison hit, constituted fair use rather than copyright infringement.

The group split up a few years later, although for a time its members’ legal issues only enhanced the group’s appeal. In the wake of their obscenity conviction, they released “Banned in the U.S.A.” (1990), their highest-charting single, which reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sampled Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” as well as a news report discussing the obscenity case.

“The First Amendment gave us freedom of speech,” Marquis rapped in the song, “so what you sayin’, it didn’t include me?/ I like to party and have a good time/ There’s nothin’ but pleasure written in our rhymes.”

Sources vary on his date of birth, but according to DJ Debo he was born April 2, 1967. He grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and as a teenager he moved to Riverside, Calif., where he started making rap records in high school and met Mr. Mixx, a founder of 2 Live Crew.

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The group began as a trio without Marquis, who joined when he was about 19, after one of the original members dropped out. He was featured on the group’s 1986 debut album, “The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are,” which helped pioneer and popularize the booming sound known as Miami bass.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

After the release of the 1998 album “The Real One,” Brother Marquis left 2 Live Crew and worked on solo projects, later reuniting with Fresh Kid Ice, who died in 2017. Away from the group, Marquis also rapped on the 1993 song “99 Problems” with Ice-T. The rapper credited Marquis with coining the song’s classic hook — “I got 99 problems, but a b---- ain’t one” — which was further popularized by Jay-Z in a song of the same name.

Long after 2 Live Crew’s core lineup split up, Marquis distanced himself from some of the group’s lyrics, telling a VladTV interviewer in 2022, “I really wasn’t comfortable with all the profanity that we were putting into the music, but when you see the reaction in the community and everyone’s loving it, you know, you kind of go with it.”

He was proud, he said, of the role that he and the group played in promoting free expression. “No one can ever take away from me what we did,” he told the magazine Heat Seekers. “I can take that to the grave that we made a difference.”

Brother Marquis, mainstay of hip-hop’s 2 Live Crew, dies at 57 (2024)

FAQs

What happened to Brother Marquis from the 2 live crew? ›

The rapper Brother Marquis, who joined the Miami hip-hop group 2 Live Crew in the '80s and was featured on Ice-T's song "99 Problems," has died. He was 58, according to TMZ, who first reported the news. 2 Live Crew's manager confirmed Brother Marquis' passing in an email to USA TODAY Monday.

Who passed away in the 2 live crew? ›

Brother Marquis, a foundational member of the rap group 2 Live Crew, the raunchy Miami-based outfit whose sexually explicit lyrics delighted fans and dismayed local prosecutors, sparking a national debate over freedom of expression, died June 3 at his home in Gadsden, Ala. He was 57.

What happened to the members of the 2 live crew? ›

In 2016, Fresh Kid Ice left the group, and Mr. Mixx rejoined. On July 13, 2017, at age 53, Fresh Kid Ice died in a Miami hospital from cirrhosis. Currently, there is an ongoing dispute between Lil Joe Records against former 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell, Brother Marquis and the estate of Fresh Kid Ice.

Who is Marquis from Two Live Crew? ›

Mark Ross AKA Brother Marquis of the 2 Live crew has passed away,” 2 Live Crew wrote in an Instagram post. Born in April 1966 – reports vary over what his actual birth date was – in Rochester, New York, Brother Marquis spent his youth in Los Angeles before moving to Miami and joining 2 Live Crew in 1986.

Is Brother Marquis still alive? ›

Rapper Brother Marquis, from the hip-hop group 2 Live Crew, has died at the age of 58. Marquis' - real name was Mark D. Ross - death was confirmed by the group's manager to Rolling Stone, although a cause of death was not provided. On Monday, 2 Live Crew announced on Instagram that the rapper had passed away.

What was Brother Marquis' cause of death? ›

Personal life and death

Ross had a daughter. Ross died from a heart attack on June 3, 2024, at the age of 57, in his home in Gadsden, Alabama.

What rapper just died in 2024? ›

Rich Homie Quan passed away in his Atlanta home at the age of 34 on Sept. 5. His peers like Jacquees and Boosie BadAzz began sharing the news online before Quan's death was officially confirmed. Boosie claimed Quan died of an overdose, though this has not been confirmed.

What song did 2 Live Crew get in trouble for? ›

"Me So Horny" is a song by the rap group 2 Live Crew on their album As Nasty as They Wanna Be. The explicit nature of the lyrics of this song and the album led to the initially successful prosecution of the group on obscenity charges and the album being banned from sale in Florida.

What made 2 Live Crew so controversial? ›

2 Live Crew fought the law with its album, 'As Nasty As They Wanna Be' In 1989, 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be became the first album declared legally obscene, and the group's legal battles set a precedent for the rappers that followed.

Did 2 Live Crew get sued? ›

Acuff-Rose Music refused to grant the band a license but 2 Live Crew nonetheless produced and released the parody. Almost a year later, after nearly a quarter of a million copies of the recording had been sold, Acuff-Rose sued 2 Live Crew and its record company, Luke Skyywalker Records, for copyright infringement.

When was 2 Live Crew banned? ›

2 Live Crew's 1990 album “Banned In The U.S.A.” was the first to feature the RIAA's “Explicit Content” Sticker. As Nasty As They Wanna Be” was the first sound recording in U.S. history to be declared legally obscene by a federal judge. This ruling was later reversed.

Who was the lead singer of 2 Live Crew? ›

Luther Roderick Campbell (born December 22, 1960), also known as Luke Skyywalker, Uncle Luke and simply Luke, is an American rapper, promoter, record executive, actor, and former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew.

Who passed away from The 2 Live Crew? ›

Brother Marquis, integral member of the influential, yet controversial rap group 2 Live Crew has died at age 57. While no cause of death has been officially confirmed, TMZ reports natural causes.

Who owns the right to the two live crew music? ›

Lil' Joe Makes a Deal

Weinberger bought the rights to 2 Live Crew's master recordings out of bankruptcy for $800,000 and formed his own label, Lil' Joe Records, to distribute them.

Who is the DJ in 2 Live Crew? ›

Ross helped form 2 Live Crew in the 1980s with Luke Skyywalker a.k.a. Uncle Luke (Luther Campbell), Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and DJ Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs).

Who is Uncle Luke married to? ›

Which was not an original member of 2 Live Crew? ›

Brother Marquis, however, wasn't an original member of 2 Live Crew. He joined at the age of 19 right when the group was on the rise following the 1985 departure of Yuri ”Amazing Vee” Vielot. Mr. Mixx had known Brother Marquis from California, where he had moved at age 14, and recruited him.

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