Brother Marquis, one of the members of the Miami rap group 2 Live Crew, has died, according to the group’s Instagram account. The rapper, whose real name was Mark Ross, was 57.
TMZ reported that it appears Brother Marquis, who is survived by a daughter, died of natural causes.
“Mark Ross AKA ” Brother Marquis of the 2 Live crew, has passed away #2livecrew”
Uncle Luke released a statement via his X account (formerly known as Twitter):
“My Condolence goes out to the Family of Brother Marquis and so many of his Fans from around the World after learning of his passing. We took on so many fights for the culture and 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.”
Brother Marquis was not a founding group member of 2 Live Crew, joining in 1986. According to Entertainment Weekly, the rapper was added to the Miami Bass group two years after the late Kid Fresh and DJ Mr. Mixx moved to Miami after living in Riverside, CA. He was on the debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are.
He hailed from Rochester, N.Y., butt moved to California as a teenager. Before joining 2 Live Crew, Marquis was in a group with Rodney-O called the Caution Crew. His former partner gained popularity when he and Joe Cooley connected and released a single, “Everlasting Bass,” in 1988.
(That song was recently sampled for the Metro Boomin’ song featuring Future and Kendrick Lamar, “Like That,” which sparked the Lamar/Drake beef earlier this year.)
Brother Marquis was on future projects by 2 Live Crew, including 1988’s Move Somethin and 1989’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be, its best-selling album. He also appeared in 1990’s Banned in the U.S.A. and 1991’s Sports Weekend: As Nasty as They Wanna Be, Pt. 2
. The group’s last album, The Real One, was released in 1998.Brother Marquis released a solo album, Bottom Boi Style Vol. 1 in 2003.