Mark D. Ross, known by his stage name Marquis, has passed away at the age of 58, as confirmed by the group’s manager to Rolling Stone. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
2 Live Crew, announced Marquis’s death on Instagram, mourning the loss of the influential rapper.
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1966, Marquis later moved to Los Angeles during his teenage years. He eventually settled in Miami and joined 2 Live Crew in 1986, collaborating with DJ Mr. Mixx, Fresh Kid Ice, and Luke Skyywalker.
The group gained prominence in the mid-1980s and was notable for being the first artists to receive the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” label on an album.
2 Live Crew courted controversy for their sexually explicit lyrics and album covers. Their hit song “Me So Horny” from the album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” catapulted them to fame in 1989. The album was the first to be declared legally obscene by the US government, though the ruling was later overturned. Despite the controversy, it went double platinum.
Their 1990 album, “Banned in the USA,” featured a title track that directly referenced the banning of their previous album and included a sample of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” The album cover, depicting the band wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Censorship is un-American,” was the first to feature a label warning buyers of explicit content.
Before 2 Live Crew, sexually explicit lyrics were not as prevalent in rap music, making them pioneers in pushing boundaries and challenging censorship in the genre.