Brother Marquis, one of the founding members of the pioneering Miami rap group, 2 Live Crew, has died at the age of 58. According to the band’s social media, “Mark Ross AKA Brother Marquis of the 2 Live crew has passed away.” No further details were given by the page, but tributes from his bandmate Luke and many other contemporaries quickly poured in.
“My Condolence goes out to the Family of Brother Marquis and so many of his Fans from around the World after learning his passing,” Luke wrote on X. “We took on so many fights for the culture made Great music together something I would never forget. We had recently got back together to take on another fight to get back our catalog that was stolen from us. We will continue that fight in his name for his Family. The Brother Marquis, that I know would want us to celebrate his life that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. R.I.P My Brother”
My Condolence goes out to the Family of Brother Marquis and so many of his Fans from around the World after learning his passing. We took on so many fights for the culture made Great music together something I would never forget .We had recently got back together to take on…
— Luther Luke Campbell (@unclelukereal1) June 3, 2024
The fights he refers to include a legal battle over their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which was declared legally obscene by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit later overturned that decision, opening the doors to a debate over freedom of speech in rap music that persists to this day as legislators work to defend artists from being prosecuted over lyrical content.