2 Live Crew’s Brother Marquis Dead at 58

Brother Marquis, a prolific member of the iconic 2 Live Crew, has passed away at 58.

The rapper, born Mark Ross, died on Monday. The band’s manager confirmed his death to TMZ. Other sources connected to the late rapper told the outlet that his death appeared to be natural with no foul play suspected.

According to Rolling Stone, 2 Live Crew gained notoriety in the late '80s thanks to their distinct Miami bass sound that incorporated samples and explicit lyrics.

Although Ross did not join the group until 1986 at merely 19 years old, he became part of the 2 Live Crew’s most prominent lineup which included David P. Hobbs, a.k.a Mr. Mixx, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, and Christopher Wong Won, a.k.a Fresh Kid Ice, per Red Bull Music Academy.

According to Miami New Times, Ross was born in Rochester, New York before moving to Los Angeles at 14 years old. It was in L.A. where he met Mr. Mixx and his life changed forever.

“One day, I got a call to come to Miami with Mr. Mixx, Fresh Kid Ice, and Luther Campbell and that's what I did, and we started making records, Miami bass records, with a subject matter that we got here out of Miami,” Ross told the newspaper in 2014.

Their 1989 album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, was declared obscene by a Florida judge. The obscenity ruling was later overturned by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, with the Supreme Court declining to review it, per Rolling Stone.

“I'm grateful and honored to be a pioneer as far as explicit lyrics, First Amendment rights, fighting censorship, and naked women on the stage,” Ross told Miami New Times. “We were responsible for securing a lot of that freedom of speech for everybody.”

The group experienced several lineup changes throughout the nineties. Ross remained in the group for their final album, The Real One, released in 1998.

Marquis is the second member of the group to pass away, following founding member Won’s death in July 2017 of liver cirrhosis at 53 years old.