Brother Marquis from the hip-hip group 2 Live Crew has passed away aged 57.
The manager of the Miami rap group confirmed that Brother Marquis, real name Mark Ross, had died on Monday. No further details about his death were disclosed.
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The influential group, which was formed in the mid-1980s, were the first artists to have a “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” label on an album.
Marquis joined the group in 1986 and formed the most well-known line-up alongside Christopher Wong Won (Fresh Kid Ice), Luther Campbell (Luke Skyywalker) and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx).
The group released eight albums throughout their initial run, from 1986’s The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are to 1998’s The Real One.
Their third album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be, was ruled legally obscene and made illegal to sell due to the sexually explicit nature of their lyrics.
Three members of the group, including Brother Marquis, endured an obscenity trial for performing songs from that album at a nightclub. They were ultimately found not guilty and the ruling against the album was overturned in 1992.
Outside of the group, Marquis formed the duo 2 Nasty, featured on Ice-T’s song 99 Problems, and released the solo project, Bottom Boi Style Vol. 1. He reunited with various members of the 2 Live Crew on and off from the mid-2000s.
His bandmate Fresh Kid Ice passed away in 2017.
