A rapper from the famous and one of the most influential rap groups of the 90’s, 2 Live Crew, has died.
Fresh Kid Ice, real name Christopher Wong Won, a founding member of the Miami rap group 2 Live Crew, has died, fellow rapper and lead vocalist Luther Campbell said Thursday on Twitter. Won was 53 years old.
Won died Thursday morning at a Miami hospital after battling an unknown illness.
Live Crew burst into the Miami hip-hop scene in the mid-1980s and polarized listeners with the band’s sexually explicit lyrics.
The group, which Fresh Kid Ice helped form with fellow artists Mr. Mixx (David Hobbs) and Amazing Vee (Yuri Vielot), became a household name after Campbell lured them (minus Vielot) to Miami and signed them to a record deal.
Brother Marquis (Mark Ross) joined the group for their debut album, “The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are.”
“As Nasty As They Wanna Be,” released in 1989, became the first album to ever be deemed legally obscene by the U.S. government.
Won and Campbell made headlines after their June 1990 arrest in Hollywood after a performance at the Futura Club. Their arrests came three days after a federal judge ruled that the 2 Live Crew’s third studio album was obscene, making it illegal to sell the record in South Florida.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks