Mark Ross, a rapper higher identified by his stage title Brother Marquis and a member of the influential and sometimes controversial Miami hip-hop group 2 Stay Crew, has died. He was 58.
The official 2 Stay Crew Instagram account confirmed Ross’ demise on Monday evening, and the group’s longtime supervisor, DJ Debo, additionally confirmed the information to Individuals Journal. No particulars or reason for demise had been supplied.
Alongside Luke Skyywalker (Luther Campbell), Recent Child Ice (Christopher Wong Gained) and Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs), Ross fashioned essentially the most well-known lineup of two Stay Crew who broke out of the Florida rap scene to realize nationwide success within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s with a string of gold albums and have become infamous for his or her overtly sexual songs resembling “Me So Attractive,” “We Need Some Pussy!,” “Throw the Dick,” and “Pop That Coochie.”
Ross was born in Rochester, New York on April 4, 1966. At 14, he moved to Los Angeles along with his household, the place he grew to become a rising expertise within the native rap scene. Although carefully related to Miami, 2 Stay Crew had been initially based in Riverside, California in 1984 by DJ Mr. Mixx and authentic rappers Recent Child Ice and Wonderful Vee. Ross grew to become pleasant with the two Stay Crew in Riverside and that connection led to him being accepted into the group in 1986 when he was 19.
With Ross and the group now relocated to Miami, 2 Stay Crew launched their debut album, The two Stay Crew Is What We Are, in 1986. The document would go gold and have the songs “We Need Some Pussy” and “Throw the ‘D’”. Given the apparent grownup content material of the songs, the band was embroiled in a sequence of controversies in Florida and elsewhere, a sample that will repeat in future information.
Reaching nationwide notoriety for his or her sexually express lyrics, and the continuous obscenity prices thrown at them, 2 Stay Crew, nonetheless loved a run of success with their subsequent 4 studio albums, with Ross that includes on all of them. Transfer Somethin’ (1988) went gold, As Nasty as They Wanna Be (1989) hit platinum gross sales and the each Banned in the united statesA. (1990) and Sports activities Weekend (As Nasty as They Wanna Be Half II) (1991) gained gold standing. Banned in the united statesA. was notable for being one of many first albums to characteristic the newly applied RIAA-standard Parental Advisory warning sticker.
In a Miami Instances interview, Ross was significantly happy with 2 Stay Crew’s potential to push the boundaries of free speech and their pioneering sexually express lyrics which grew to become extra widespread in hip-hop after the group’s prime years. “I’m grateful and honored to be a pioneer so far as express lyrics, First Modification rights, combating censorship, and bare ladies on the stage,” Ross stated. “We had been liable for securing loads of that freedom of speech for everyone.”
Following the break up of the most effective identified 2 Stay Crew lineup in 1992, Ross relocated to Georgia and dabbled with standup comedy. He additionally achieved reasonable success within the rap duo 2 Nasty with DJ Toomp.
As a solo artist, Ross made a notable characteristic look on the significantly sexually express Ice-T observe “99 Issues” launched in 1993, a tune that was later sampled by Jay-Z.
Ross and a pair of Stay Crew would reform at varied instances during the last 20 years, touring semi-regularly.