Brother Marquis from 2 Live Crew, a controversial rap group from the 1980s and `90s, died sometime in early June 2024, according to the official 2 Live Crew Instagram account. Marquis’ manager confirmed his death to Rolling Stone. He was 58. What was his cause of death?
2 Live Crew is perhaps most well-known for raunchy lyrics, notably on their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, released in 1989, and officially declared obscene by a judge. These days, dirty words and sexual topics in rap and hip-hop are de rigueur, but back then, a record store owner was arrested for selling the record, and two 2 Live Crew members were arrested after a show, The New York Times reported in 1990.
Brother Marquis cause of death is unknown
Brother Marquis’ legal name is Mark D. Ross, and to date, his cause of death has not been announced. Ross was the second 2 Crew Live member to die. Fresh Ice Kid, whose real name was Christopher Wong Won — better known to 2 Live Crew fans as Fresh Ice Kid — died in 2017.
2 Live Crew split up for a while, but reunited and toured in the mid-2010s. Ross recalled what life was like in the infamous band in the `80s. ” … When we would go into some of the towns it would be local law enforcement that had a problem with it — there’d be protesters and right-wing organizations. For the most part, when we were all together, our shows were kind of clean. Yeah, the girls had on booty shorts and the lyrics was crazy. Me and Fresh Kid Ice, on the other hand, have had some shows that were kind of over the top,” Ross told Rolling Stone.
Uncle Luke shared his thoughts on X
Meanwhile, another 2 Live Crew member, Uncle Luke — legal name Luther Roderick Campbell — shared his thoughts on his friend’s passing. “My Condolence goes out to the Family of Brother Marquis and so many of his Fans from around the World after learning his passing [sic],” Campbell wrote in part, on X.