Brother Marquis, the rapper and member of the hip-hop group 2 Live Crew, whose sexually explicit lyrics prompted a debate about race and artistic freedom in the 1980s and ’90s, has died.
His death was announced on 2 Live Crew’s social media accounts on Monday night. The posts did not provide a cause or location of death.
2 Live Crew was founded in 1984, and Brother Marquis, born Mark Ross, joined after the group moved from California to Miami. He became part of its most well-known lineup alongside Christopher Wong Won (Fresh Kid Ice); the group’s leader, Luther Campbell (Luke Skyywalker); and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx).
In 1990, a Florida court deemed their album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” legally obscene — and therefore illegal to sell. It was the first album in U.S. history to have that distinction.
That year, Mr. Ross, Mr. Wong Won and Mr. Campbell were arrested on misdemeanor obscenity charges over their performance at a nightclub after an undercover police officer made a recording of their show. They faced the prospect of a year in prison and fines of up to $1,000.
During their obscenity trial, prosecutors argued that their song lyrics included graphic descriptions of sexual intercourse and simulations of “deviant sexual acts.” But 2 Live Crew’s lawyers said that the group’s performance had to be understood in the context of hip-hop, and that the lyrics “can have artistic value when you have an understanding, when you have them, in effect, decoded.” Mr. Ross, Mr. Wong Won and Mr. Campbell were acquitted.