Brother Marquis, the rapper and member of the hip-hop group 2 Stay Crew, whose sexually specific lyrics prompted a debate about race and creative freedom within the Eighties and ’90s, has died.
His loss of life was introduced on 2 Stay Crew’s social media accounts on Monday night time. The posts didn’t present a trigger or location of loss of life.
2 Stay Crew was based in 1984, and Brother Marquis, born Mark Ross, joined after the group moved from California to Miami. He grew to become a part of its most well-known lineup alongside Christopher Wong Gained (Contemporary Child Ice); the group’s chief, Luther Campbell (Luke Skyywalker); and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx).
In 1990, a Florida courtroom deemed their album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” legally obscene — and subsequently unlawful to promote. It was the primary album in U.S. historical past to have that distinction.
That 12 months, Mr. Ross, Mr. Wong Gained and Mr. Campbell have been arrested on misdemeanor obscenity fees over their efficiency at a nightclub after an undercover police officer made a recording of their present. They confronted the prospect of a 12 months in jail and fines of as much as $1,000.
Throughout their obscenity trial, prosecutors argued that their track lyrics included graphic descriptions of sexual activity and simulations of “deviant sexual acts.” However 2 Stay Crew’s legal professionals stated that the group’s efficiency needed to be understood within the context of hip-hop, and that the lyrics “can have creative worth when you will have an understanding, when you will have them, in impact, decoded.” Mr. Ross, Mr. Wong Gained and Mr. Campbell have been acquitted.
