The Source: Archives - November 20, 2001

This interview shows us how amazing God's grace is. If you're offended by the vile life that Marquis lived . . . I complement you. So is he! Now he's saved by grace- and his message is one to hear and to encourage our youth who are being brainwashed by the lyrics and lifestyles of many secular musicians. Take a peek at the truth about the emptiness that this lifestyle brings.

JONATHAN: Marquis, it's great to be with you today. Now on your label you were known as . . .

MARQUIS: Brother Marquis, yep.

JONATHAN: Brother Marquis is what you're known by . . .what is your real name?

MARQUIS: Mark Roth.

JONATHAN: Marquis, tell us who you are.

MARQUIS: Brother Marquis, formerly of the group 2 Live Crew, I was one of the up front guys, the main song writer of the band.

JONATHAN: Tell us a little about that band- I'm ashamed to admit it- but I was familiar with it because I actually used to listen to that junk back in the day.

MARQUIS: No doubt. That is definitely what it was- JUNK. And we were the pioneers of junk.

JONATHAN: So for someone who doesn't recognize the band name, tell us how other people would know you. Because you guys actually made the headlines a few years back.

MARQUIS: The biggest thing that they would know us from is our fight against the establishment of the censorship law. We went all the way up to the Supreme Court. We won a ruling on censorship which the government founded as an art form and which allowed us to say anything we wanted to say on our records, belittling women and the whole sex thing. We were responsible for the explicit lyrics sticker, like back before Twisted Sister and everybody like that. We were going through it at the same time with the whole Tipper Gore thing. And uh, basically man, we were just a shock rap group, we just said anything that we wanted to say that was ungodly. We hold the record for over two hundred and, I believe, thirty five cuss words on one LP. So, basically we were pretty low, shallow, dark, we were just everything that was bad. Our whole message was sex, sex and more sex.

JONATHAN: That's right, some of your hits included the song, "Me So Horny"

MARQUIS: Right

JONATHAN: You didn't hide your message- it was usually right in the title. Like the song "Hey We Want Some..." and we won't talk about the rest of that title.

MARQUIS: That and "Pop It" and "Throw It" and "Bag It and Snag It" and whatever else. Nasty stuff.

JONATHAN: Basically the music that Mom doesn't want us to listen to. You were it. Tell us a little about your life at that time.

MARQUIS: Well, at that time going out with 2 Live Crew, being that I was still a young guy, I thought that it was kind of fun because, you know, having the opportunity ,to say anything that we wanted to say on a record at that time was real cool- and we were doing it for quite a while in our own community. But when we came out with that song "Me So Horny" and it started crossing over into the, you know, suburban kids started buying it and it started crossing over and then that's when the flack really came.

JONATHAN: When the stuff actually hit mainstream, like on the radio, people got mad.

MARQUIS: But as long as we were doing it in our own neighborhood, it was alright. But as we started getting more popular with it, man and going out and doing big shows and we thought it was just real cool because chicks thought it was real cool at that time. I'm really not meaning to glorify it- this was the way we lived. Chicks would come on the stage and just strip down. You know, just like they do now at the Limp Biscuit concerts. I mean, they would get on the stage with us and basically do whatever we told them to do. The crowd would hang on every word that we said even repeating words on command. I was having fun with it- I was young- you know what I'm saying. I'm partying and chicks everywhere, man it seemed cool. It was cool at that time, but during all of the money and the fame and all of that, I didn't have any close friends. After the lights go down and the curtains close, behind the scene is the pain that only God knows. I couldn't buy friends with the chicks, the partying, offering them drugs any of that kind of stuff.

Basically, for me, off of the stage was the most lonely period of my life. I mean, the band, we didn't have any relationship as far as, you know, any hangin' out and stuff like that. The only time that we were friends was when we were going to the studio to record or when we were actually doing a live performance. Other than that there was no love. So to me, being on stage and just doing women any kind of a way, that was a, that was a form of release for me. And I would get drunk and I would go do that . . . but after it was over, it was like reality setin' back in, saying, "I'm still lonely and I'm not happy!" I can't remember a time when I was really totally happy doing that. I can't even remember a time.

JONATHAN: So basically you had these little temporary highs.

MARQUIS: Right, right.

JONATHAN: Get drunk . . .

MARQUIS: Right

JONATHAN: Feel good on stage . . .

MARQUIS: Exactly

JONATHAN: Get with a woman . . .

MARQUIS: and it felt good at the time but then afterwards . . .

JONATHAN: Afterwards back to emptiness.

MARQUIS: Back to empty.

JONATHAN: Wow.

MARQUIS: Yep. I like that, "back to empty." Back to empty. Yep, that's the way it was.

JONATHAN: Well, I'm here looking at you and you're a different person now. What changed it all for you. Tell us a little about this conversion experience.

MARQUIS: Well, my daddy led me to the Lord.

JONATHAN: Wow!

MARQUIS: Yeah, in December 1999. My daddy is Associate Pastor at a church in Syracuse. I'm my daddy's first child and . . . my daddy didn't raise me. But now God has given us an opportunity to reconcile the relationship. And me and him are back close together and it's real cool.

JONATHAN: So you're daddy led you to the Lord. What events lead up to this?

MARQUIS: God was dealing with me- but I didn't know really what was happening. I thought I was going crazy because I would always cry, "I know that I shouldn't be doing this. This is not right. I want to be known for something better than just going out and doing this." And I just I was searching for greatness. I was searching for truth at the time and I was desperate for change but I didn't actually know what it would take to get me there.

So I was going through all of this kind of stuff, getting drunk, cussing people out and really just crying every night after the concerts. So I was alone, by myself and my daddy came with the answer. He asked me, "have you ever tried Jesus Christ?" He had told me that before my mom had died, but I didn't really listen, it went in one ear and right out the other. But anyway, to make a long story short, my daddy told me to lift my hands and say the sinner's prayer. Man, I gave my life to the Lord and it just seemed like a ton of bricks was lifted off my neck man at that time. It was better than any high I had ever received and I know right then that Jesus started dealing with me. I tried it and I liked it . . . so here I am.

I'm one to be real so I'm a year and ten months in it and I'm going through struggles. A lot of things in my past are coming back, those past temptations and I'm just having to learn how to fight off those spirits man that I encountered along that way in that journey of darkness that I was in. But by God's grace I'm going to make it.

JONATHAN: That is so awesome. That is good to hear. Had you already cut off ties with the band when your daddy came along?

MARQUIS: No, I said the sinners prayer with my daddy- I gave my life to the Lord. Then my daddy kind of stepped back a few feet . . . and looked at me. He kind of gave me that look like, "What are you going to do now?" Then it registered. "Oh yeah - I got to quit my band huh? I gotta quit the band!"

JONATHAN: How'd you do that? I mean- did you just walk in, "I QUIT!"

MARQUIS: I just called them up and said, "Hey man, I just gave my life to the Lord. You guys can have all that!"

JONATHAN: What were they thinking?

MARQUIS: They were thinking this guys a fool! He's crazy! What's he going to do now?

JONATHAN: You gave your life to the Lord, that was a year and 10 months ago. What have you been doing since then?

MARQUIS: God has really been taking me places. I hooked up with Phil Chalmers (Chalmers Music Seminars). There's a lot out here for God to do. And God has basically been showing me what he wants me to do. I've been meeting a lot of good people like you, I've been coming to these Youth Specialties events with Phil and sharing my story. God has been placing great men of God in my life. God is just working my testimony right now.

The biggest event that I did was Kingdom Bound where I opened up with Audio Adrenaline on the main stage- over 20,000 kids. So I'm seeing what kind of venues God is placing me in.

JONATHAN: That's great.

MARQUIS: Basically, what I'm doing now is volunteering at the church. I'm staying up under my pastor, getting that good teaching, getting grounded and rooted and I'm not really too anxious about getting that record deal because I want to get my spirit right first. There's a lot of things I gotta get straight with myself.

JONATHAN: That's great.

MARQUIS: You know what I'm saying.

JONATHAN: Absolutely

MARQUIS: I don't want to crash and burn spiritually. I don't want to make no records half cocked - I want to grow in the Lord and get strong spiritually before I get into the ministry full time.

JONATHAN: I don't want to sound condescending- but that's very humble of you. I respect that.

MARQUIS: Oh yeah, I gotta do that. I got wise pastors, man, and they are telling me, "Yo- you got to sit down."

JONATHAN: Yesterday when we were hanging out at lunch you were sharing with me about these pastors in your life. I'm excited about the accountability you've set up.

MARQUIS: No doubt. Pastor Mike who I met in Tampa- he's an ex-rocker. He used to play with a group called Warlock- he had a record deal. He's a bad guitarist. A youth pastor who's on fire for God. He's like my spiritual daddy. I have my aunt. She's like my spiritual mother and my mentor. I've got my daddy and the pastor. I'm always at the church, I'm always in prayer now every day at 12:00 with the sisters.

JONATHAN: Cool.

MARQUIS: God has got me surrounded man, God has got me hooked up. Alls I got to do is stay with my church and I'll be alright.

JONATHAN: It's nice to have people you can call.

MARQUIS: That's right- because I've been going through it and I've got people I can call that can help me.

JONATHAN: Yesterday you and I were standing in the back of Phil Chalmers' Seminar and you had just performed a song. After the seminar all these girls came up crying to you saying, "That was such a beautiful song." Tell us about that song.

MARQUIS: God gave me that song when I was first saved. Because I was in the strip life. I mean drugs, clubs and the chicks thinking I was the pimp. God gave me this song called "Put Your Clothes Back On." The mother of my daughter was a stripper. That's how I met her. I just wrote that song thinking about her. Now she has a job for the government and she's doing an excellent job raising my daughter. But anyway man, that goes out to all the strippers that I came in contact with- all the girls that were dancing for us. And I just wrote that song for them.

JONATHAN: Hopefully soon- but not too soon, because I like your humble pace- but we look forward to seeing that song on CD.

MARQUIS: If I do make a CD. Believe that I will not just start touring with the CD- I want to just do weekend engagements man and just still serve at the church. In other words, if I do "do a CD" I'm not going into full time ministry with it yet. I'm just going to take my time with it.

JONATHAN: One last question. Daily, I run into kids that listen to filthy lyrics and think it doesn't affect them. I remember myself in college listening to you guys and NWA and all those guys thinking, "It's not going to affect me . . . and it did!" Kids are out there listening to this stuff thinking it's okay. They don't even know they're putting themselves in danger. What message would you tell those kids about listening to this kind of music. Especially those who say they "just like the beat" or "I don't listen to the lyrics."

MARQUIS: You know it does effect people. I mean, some people listen to the music and don't partake in what the artist is saying, but spiritually it kills them because it's not speaking life into you. People that listen to that stuff are spiritually dead. The people who MAKE the music are DEFINITELY dead. And a lot of them write about the darkness of the ghetto and the city and that life. And basically they glamorize the stuff that they're into as far as gangs and drug dealing and all that. And to me, the music is very deceiving because I WAS deceived in order to make the music.

JONATHAN:> That brings up a good question. Most of us sat and watched you on TV standing before the supreme court saying, "We're just sharing our point of view and we have a right to express our opinion." Just like rap artists always claim, "We're just depicting a true glimpse of life in the hood." And I've always wondered . . . what do these artists think when they go to bed at night. Did you really think you were just expressing an innocent point of view? Or did you know inside that it was wrong and . . .

MARQUIS: I KNEW it was wrong. Although back then I hardly ever went to bed at night.

(Laughter)

I knew I did wrong. When we used to go to venues and our vehicle would pull up, the church ladies standing there would always point me out. They would always point me out and say "You! I want to talk to you!" And I would go and talk with these ladies.

One time in my hometown in Miami I was buying this guy some Chinese food and some lady came out of nowhere and said to me, "God has some work for you to do. And that really freaked me out."

The message that I would want to give to these young people today that listen to that secular rap and that secular rock music it's like you're buying obsene phone calls. It's your waste because you're spending $15 to $19 bucks for them to tell you absolutely nothing. They're not telling you to stay in school, they're not telling you to be obedient to your parents . . . you're basically supporting a CD that is cussing you out. It's telling you you're nothing. It's telling you how broke YOU are and that I have all the money. It's telling you to go have sex. It's telling you to kill yourself. It's telling you you're a loser. They're deceiving you by what they idle. They're telling you that I have a million dollar watch, I have a fleet of Bentleys BUT yet still you are supporting all that stuff that I have and I'm talking about you- and you don't have that stuff. I have everything, you have nothing. And you're the one that's supporting them to tell you nothing.

Then the rockers are telling you "you're a loser" and to go kill yourself. It's cool. That's the only way you're ever going to be somebody. Just get it over with. This is you're last resort. Go ahead and do it. Do it you big dummy, do it you fool. You're broke. Buy my CD give me your girl. Basically what I was doing . . . you know someone once told me that 2 Live Crew spelled backwards is "WORK EVIL 2" and that's exactly what I was doing. Because in one of my songs "The 'F' Shop," I had even said some things- I invited Satan to come in and have havoc in my life worse than he already did. I said in my lyrics "I'm a disciple of Satan with work to do. I see it in your eyes. The freaks deep inside. I'll grab you by your chest and squeeze blood from you. And I'll rise you to your death." Those were my lyrics man. By just saying that, I can see how I was just inviting the devil to come into my life and just do me any kind of way.

But hey man- I'm a sinner that was saved by grace and God made a way of escape for me out of sin and by his goodness and mercy I am here right now telling you that the only way that we can make it and get it right here is with Jesus. With Jesus Christ. So I'm not perfect- I'm in my first year- I've slipped- I'm strugglin- but God is going to see me through. I'm not going to give up on him.
The devil has tried to offer me all kinds of money to go back into the lifestyle, knowing that part of it sounds good . . . My band called me up and asked me to work with them again- go on tour.

JONATHAN: What'd you tell 'em?

MARQUIS: No Way.

JONATHAN: Wasn't that hard- to turn down fame and fortune again.

MARQUIS: Man, I never want to go back to that life. God is making provisions for my life. And I'm just happy to be on the other side. Because that rap world - there ain't nothing out there.

JONATHAN: Thanks for sharing about the work of Christ in your life. All of us are sinners and God's grace extends to all of us. What a privilege to get a peek at what He's done in your life.

MARQUIS: Apart from Him you can do nothing.