Rapper Brother Marquis, member of the 2 Live Crew, dies at the age of 58

Rapper Brother Marquis, who was part of the legendary rap group 2 Live Crew, has died at the age of 58.

The death of the New York native was announced by the group on social media. He died on Monday.

“Mark Ross, aka ‘Brother Marquis’ from the 2 Live crew, has headed to the upstairs room,” the group wrote alongside a photo of him on Instagram.

The caption has since been updated to read: “Mark Ross, also known as Brother Marquis from the 2 Live crew, has passed away.”

The cause of death is not yet known.

The group’s manager confirmed the news to TMZ. Sources told the newspaper that there is no suspicion of foul play.

Rapper Uncle Luke, the group’s frontman, paid tribute to his former member on social media.

“My condolences go out to Brother Marquis’ family and so many of his fans around the world after learning of his passing,” the rapper, whose real name is Luther Campbell, wrote on X.

“We fought so many battles for the culture (and) made great music together, something I will never forget. We recently came back together to take on another fight to get back our catalog that was stolen from us. We will continue this fight on his behalf for his family.”

“The Brother Marquis I know would want us to celebrate his life (and) that’s exactly what I’m going to do. RIP my brother,” added Campbell, who is currently preparing to run for Congress to represent his home state of Florida.

Brother Marquis – real name Mark D. Ross – was born in Rochester and joined the Miami hip-hop group in 1986 at the age of 19.

In the same year, the group released their debut album “The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are”.

Rapper Fresh Ice Kid, real name Chris Wong Won, died in 2017. He was also a co-member of the legendary rap group.

Marquis was one of the most famous members of the 2 Live Crew, along with rappers Uncle Luke, Fresh Kid Ice and Mr. Mixx.

The rappers soon made a name for themselves as hip-hop legends, whose 1989 album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” was at the center of a groundbreaking obscenity trial.

“As Nasty As They Wanna Be” – an album whose first song, “Me So Horny,” samples lurid pick-up lines from a Vietnamese prostitute in Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 war film “Full Metal Jacket” – was declared legally obscene by South Florida federal judge Jose Gonzalez Jr. in 1990.

The ruling threatened to criminally prosecute music sellers for distributing the album and to silence artists with explicit song lyrics.

The Gonzalez case was overturned two years later by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit – and two members of the Live Crew were acquitted in a separate trial after they were arrested for playing some of the album’s songs at a concert.

The controversy surrounding the album led to the group’s 1990 chart hit “Banned in the USA,” which included the original court decision, their subsequent arrest, and a vocal defense of “freedom of speech.”

The group is currently in a legal dispute with Lil Joe Records over music rights and ownership.