His brother Marquis, rapper of 2 Live Crew, inventor of “forbidden funk”, dies.

The rapper participated in the original formation of the group responsible for the invention of explicit rap and “funk prohibition”

Rapper Brother Marquis, of the group 2 Live Crew, died Monday night (3/5) at the age of 58. 2 Live Crew’s official Instagram confirmed the death without providing details or cause of death.

Beginning of career

Mark D. Ross, his original name, was born in Rochester, New York, on April 4, 1966 and at the age of 14 moved to Los Angeles with his family, where he became an emerging talent on the local rap scene . Although closely associated with Miami, 2 Live Crew was initially founded in Riverside, California in 1984 by DJ Mr. Mixx and original rappers Fresh Kid Ice and Amazing Vee. Ross became friends with the original Riverside trio and this connection led to his acceptance into the group in 1986, when he was 19.

He became Brother Marquis after joining the group and, with everyone moving to Miami, was involved in the release of “The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are”, which went gold in 1986 and began 2 Live Crew’s controversial trajectory with the songs “We Want Some Pussy” and “Throw the ‘D'”.

Controversial trajectory

Along with Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell), Fresh Kid Ice (Christopher Wong Won) and Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Brother Marquis was part of the band’s best-known lineup, which left the Florida rap scene to achieve national success, definitively influencing it Miami Bass and the rap of the 90s, they invented the future “prohibited funk” with a series of songs with sexually explicit content.

The “forbidden” lyrics earned them several obscenity charges, but also made them popular, racking up a string of hits with their first five studio albums, all featuring Ross/Marquis. “Move Somethin'” (1988) also went gold, “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” (1989) surpassed its predecessors and reached platinum, and both “Banned in the USA” (1990) and Sports Weekend (As Nasty as They Wanna Be Part II)” (1991) repeated gold record sales.

Furthermore, “Banned in the USA” made history as the first album to feature the famous Parental Advisory sticker, which has since become the standard for identifying albums with content unsuitable for minors.

After 2 live crew

After the breakup of the better-known group 2 Live Crew in 1992, Ross moved to Georgia and achieved moderate success forming the rap duo 2 Nasty with DJ Toomp. Around this time he also made a notable appearance on the song “99 Problems”, an explicit Ice-T recording released in 1993.

Ice T explained that the idea for “99 Problems” came during a conversation about the hit song “Whoomp! (There It Is),” when, out of nowhere, Ross said “Man, I got 99 problems, but bitch I don’t I’m one.” Ice-T thought the phrase was a musician’s title and invited Ross to participate. Ten years later, in 2003, Jay-Z released a guitar-heavy version of the song that achieved great success.

In 1995, Brother Marquis collaborated with Fresh Kid Ice and Mr. Mixx to release the single “Hoochie Mama” for the soundtrack of the film “Sexta-Feira em Apuros” (Friday), which reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart and reigned as top R&B/hip-hop album for six weeks.

Return and farewell to 2 Live Crew

Encouraged by the success of “Hoochie Mama”, he returned to perform with his former colleagues as 2 Live Crew. The trio, without Luke Skyywalker, released their seventh studio album, “Shake a Lil’ Somethin’,” which produced three hits on the rap charts. But this return was short. The journey ended in 1998, when the trio became a duo (Marquis and Ice) and recorded “The Real One”, 2 Live Crew’s last album, which also contained three hit singles.

In 2003, the rapper recorded a solo album, “Bottom Boi Style Vol. 1”, which did not have volume 2 and did not lead to the continuation of his career.

As Mark Ross, he also tried to break into stand-up comedy, but ended up returning to 2 Live Crew for reunion shows with the original members at various times over the past two decades, when the group toured semi-regularly.

Explicit inheritance

In an old interview with the Miami Times, Ross/Marquis said he was especially proud of the legacy of 2 Live Crew, who tested the limits of free speech and pioneered the sexually explicit rap music that became commonplace after the first group album. “I’m grateful and honored to be a pioneer when it comes to explicit lyrics, First Amendment rights, fighting censorship and naked women on stage,” he said. “It was our responsibility to ensure much of that freedom of expression for everyone.”

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.