Brother Marquis, legendary rapper and member of the Miami hip-hop group 2 Live Crew, whose explicit lyrics fueled a debate about artistic freedom in the 1980s and ’90s, has died aged 58.

His death was announced on 2 Live Crew’s social media accounts on Monday night. No cause of death has been given.

 

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Born Mark D. Ross in April 1966, Brother Marquis grew up in Rochester, New York with his mother before moving to Los Angeles, California as a teenager. There he crossed paths with rapper Rodney-O and the pair formed the Caution Crew, releasing a slew of 12” singles such as ‘Westside Storie’ and ‘Rhythm Rock.’

2 Live Crew was founded in Riverside, California in 1984, and Brother Marquis joined after the group moved from California to Miami to replace another member who left. He became part of its most famed lineup alongside Christopher Wong Won (Fresh Kid Ice); the group’s leader, Luther Campbell (Luke Skyywalker); and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx).

Ross was the emcee on the group’s first album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are, while writing and co-writing some of the group’s most well-known tracks.

Channelling the high-octane, high-tempo subgenre of Miami bass, 2 Live Crew became notorious for their sexually explicit lyrics and song titles. Their third album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, was deemed legally obscene by a federal court in Southern Florida and became the first album in US history to be banned on such grounds, though it was later overturned on appeal.

Ross was also charged, alongside his bandmates, with misdemeanour obscenity charges for performing songs from the album after an undercover police officer made a recording of their show. They faced up to a year in prison and fines of up to $1,000.

During their obscenity trial, prosecutors argued that their song lyrics included graphic depictions of “deviant sexual acts.” But 2 Live Crew’s lawyers implored the jury to understand the group’s performance in the context of hip-hop, noting that the lyrics “can have artistic value when you have an understanding, when you have them, in effect, decoded.”

“I really wasn’t comfortable with all the profanity that we were putting into the music, Ross recalled in a 2022 interview with Vlad TV, “but when you see the reaction in the community and everyone’s loving it, you know, you kind of go with it.”

Their fourth album was titled Banned in the USA in reference to their legal battles, with Bruce Springsteen’s permission to interpolate his song ‘Born in the USA.’ It became the first ever release to bear the RIAA-standard Parental Advisory warning sticker.

2 Live Crew faced more legal trouble over their 1989 track ‘Pretty Woman,’ a rap version of Roy Orbison’s ‘Oh, Pretty Woman,’ which appeared on As Nasty as They Wanna Be. It spawned the Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., which ultimately deemed that a commercial parody falls under the doctrine of fair use.

Speaking to The Heat Seekers Magazine in 2021, Ross reflected on the group’s censorship battle and felt proud of what they overcame, saying “It’s a great feeling because no one can take away from me what we did. I can take it to the grave that we made a difference.”

Ross also coined one of hip-hop’s the most recognizable lines in hip-hop: “I got 99 problems, but a b**ch ain’t one,” used in the 2 Live Crew track 'Table Dance.' It was later used in tracks entitled '99 Problems' by Ice-T – which Ross guested on – as well as Jay-Z.