Brother Marquis, integral member of the influential, yet controversial rap group 2 Live Crew has died at age 57. While no cause of death has been officially confirmed, TMZ reports natural causes.

Born Mark Ross, Brother Marquis joined 2 Live Crew in 1986—two years after the late Fresh Kid Ice and DJ Mr Mixx relocated from Riverside, California to Miami to link up with local promoter Luke Skyywalker. Already starting to pioneer the Miami Bass sound with songs like “Throw the D,” Brother Marquis added his comedic wordplay to the mix and made appearances on the group’s 1986 debut album The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are with the album’s intro being the first song he recorded with the group.

Brother Marquis also appeared on some of the group’s biggest and most controversial songs like “Me So Horny,” “Pop That P—y,” and “Banned in the U.S.A.“

After the group broke up during the early ’90s, Brother Marquis went on to form a group with Atlanta’s DJ Toomp, releasing the album Indecent Exposure in 1993. He also featured on the original version of Ice-T’s “99 Problems,” whose remake became a massive hit in 2004 thanks to Jay-Z.

Brother Marquis reunited with Mr. Mixx and Fresh Kid Ice over the years, releasing music and touring as the 2 Live Crew. Unfortunately, Fresh Kid Ice passed away in 2017, a year after leaving the group for good. Mr. Mixx and Brother Marquis released the Christmas rap song “One Horse Sleigh” during the 2016 holiday season as The 2 Live Crew.

Shares of Spotify rose as high as $317.00, up 6.8% from the previous day’s closing price, after the company announced Monday (June 3) that it will raise subscription prices in the United States. The stock closed on Monday at $310.80, up 4.7%, bringing its year-to-date gain to 65.4%. 

Price increases have done wonders for Spotify’s share price this year. The stock also jumped 8.2% on April 3 after reports surfaced that the company would raise prices in the United Kingdom and Australia, among other markets. Spotify’s 2023 price increases fueled the company’s first-quarter results and drove the stock to its 52-week high of $319.30 on April 23. Revenue reached a record 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion), up 20%, and gross margin improved to 27.6% from 25.2% in the prior-year period. 

Investors weren’t sure about the impact of price increases on Spotify’s business, however. After Spotify announced its first broad price increase on July 24, 2023, its share price plummeted 14.3% to $140.38 — putting its stock at less than half the current price. Spotify had not instituted across-the-board price increases since its launch, and investors may have been wary about subscribers fleeing for free alternatives.

But Spotify has proved to have a considerable amount of pricing power, and subscribers mostly took the increases in stride. Spotify’s subscriptions grew 1% to 239 million at the end of March, up from 236 million at the end of December, and were up 14% from 210 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023. Interim CFO Ben Kung said during the company's April 23 earnings call that past price increases “had minimal impacts on growth” and that Spotify expects average revenue per user (ARPU) to improve again in the second quarter. 

Layoffs have also driven Spotify’s share price higher. The company’s Dec. 4, 2023, announcement that it would cut 17% of its global workforce led the stock to gain 7.5% that day. The combination of higher prices and lower salary expenses put Spotify on track to delivering the improved margins and profitability company executives promised investors in 2022. Its operating expenses in the first quarter were down 9% year-over-year and operating income — what’s left after salaries, general administrative expenses, marketing and royalties — improved to 168 million euros from an operating loss of 156 million euros in the prior-year period.

Monday’s high of $317.00 was the stock’s second-highest point of 2024. Spotify reached its all-time high of $387.44 on Feb. 22, 2021, amid investor hype about the company’s podcast ambitions and the boom in streaming stocks during a pandemic-fueled demand for at-home entertainment. 

Happy Pride from Katy Perry! As Pride Month begins, the pop star marked the occasion with a message of encouragement in the form of a heavily reworked take on the controversial — to say it lightly — grad speech given by the Kansas City Chiefs’ Harrison Butker at Benedictine College.

In a 20-minute speech on May 11, the football player condemned LGBTQ rights and attacked what he called “dangerous gender ideologies.” He spoke against abortion, birth control, IVF and surrogacy. He told female college graduates, whom he claims have been told “diabolical lies,” to embrace being a “homemaker.” 

“I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said, directing his words to the women who were there for their college graduation.

“fixed this for my girls, my graduates, and my gays — you can do anything, congratulations and happy pride,” Perry captioned a post on Instagram on Saturday (June 1). She shared a Perry-approved version of Butker’s speech.

Here is a transcript of the edit of Butker’s commencement speech posted by Perry:

“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you’re going to get in your career? I would venture to guess the women here today are going to lead successful careers in the world. I say all of this to you because I have seen it firsthand: how much happier someone can be supporting women, and not saying that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. The road ahead is bright. Things are changing. Society is shifting and people young and old are embracing diversity, equity and inclusion. With that said, I want to say Happy Pride to all of you, and congratulations class of 2024.”

In a puzzling move, Butker’s speech had also quoted a lyric from Taylor Swift (“my teammate’s girlfriend,” he said, instead of naming names), apparently forgetting Swift’s decades-long dedication to her career; this week Swift, still on her historic international Eras Tour, holds onto No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the sixth week in a row with her latest studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the “teammate” in reference, weighed in on the speech on his New Heights podcast after his teammate’s words went viral. Kelce said in the seven years he’s known Butker, he’s viewed him as a “great person and great teammate.” “When it comes down to his views and what he said … those are his,” said Kelce. “I can’t say I agree with the majority of it, or just about any of it outside of him loving his family and his kids. I don’t think I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life. That’s just not who I am.”

Watch Perry’s version of the much-talked-about commencement speech below. The star just finished her run on American Idol and has been teasing that new music is on the horizon.

Taylor Swift went from Madrid to the Kit Kat Club in London’s West End to see her friend Cara Delevingne as Sally Bowles in Cabaret Friday night (May 31).

Rumblings circulated on Friday that the “So Long, London” star — who played back-to-back stadium shows in Spain on May 29-30 — made it to Delevingne’s West End stage debut before the run ends. Post-show, Swift’s attendance was confirmed by a member of Cabaret‘s production team.

Arthur Jones, head of marketing of ATG Productions, the theatrical production company behind Cabaret, verified that Swift was at the performance in reply to a question on X (formerly Twitter): “Taylor Swift?? Was supporting Cara Delevingne?? At Cabaret?? TONIGHT??!!”

“can confirm. a special night @kitkatclubldn,” he wrote.

“Did she watch the show last night??” another person asked on X. Jones again indicated that Swift did see Cabaret, answering with a thumbs up

Delevingne, who has Only Murders in the Building and Suicide Squad among her acting credits, starred as Sally Bowles through June 1 in the musical’s revival staged at London’s Playhouse Theatre.

In late January, Delevingne was spotted by Swift’s side in a stadium suite watching Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs make their way to the Super Bowl. Around the time, she was also seen at dinner with Swift and Brittany Mahomes in New York City.

The two have known each other for more than a decade, dating back to Delevingne’s modeling days; Swift performed at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show while Delevingne walked the runway.

Swift next takes her Eras Tour to Lyon, France, with shows slated for Sunday, June 2, and Monday, June 3, before heading to Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and then back to London, and then on to Dublin, all before month’s end. The extensive European leg of The Tortured Poets Department hitmaker’s tour runs through late August.