Fresh Kid Ice

Christopher Wong Won (May 29, 1964 – July 13, 2017), better known by his stage name Fresh Kid Ice, was a Trinidadian-American rapper and a Miami bass pioneer.

Wong Won was born and spent his early childhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, before emigrating to the United States.

In his early twenties, Wong Won was in the United States Air Force and he co-founded 2 Live Crew while he was stationed in California.

Early 2 Live Crew singles gained so much traction in Florida that they relocated there.

Wong Won was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on May 29, 1964.

His family is of Chinese and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry, with his Chinese heritage originating primarily in Hong Kong.

Wong Won and his family were Catholic.

In 1976, at the age of 12, Wong Won and his family emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, New York City.

In 1982, Wong Won graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn.

According to Wong Won, he joined the United States Air Force in 1982, while stationed in March Air Force Base near Riverside, California.

Wong Won met fellow Airmen Yuri Vielot (Amazing Vee) and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx), with whom he formed the rap group 2 Live Crew.

Wong Won recounted that the group would perform in small, local venues on weekends, unbeknownst to their superiors.

In 1985, 2 Live Crew released the single "The Revelation", which became popular in Florida, so much so that they relocated to Miami, minus Vielot who left the group, at the behest of local concert promoter Luther Campbell, after Wong Won and Hobbs were discharged from the Air Force.

With the subsequent success of 2 Live Crew, Wong Won became the first rapper of note in Asian American hip hop, and the first rapper of Asian heritage to gain notoriety.

In 1985, 2 Live Crew released their next single, "What I Like" on Fresh Beat Records, with Wong Won appearing as the only rapper on the track.

That same year, 2 Live Crew entered into a joint venture with Miami-based rap producer Luther Campbell who formed Luke Skyywalker Records with the group.

Shortly after forming the record label, Campbell joined 2 Live Crew as producer, artist, and hype man.

In April of that same year, 1985, rapper Brother Marquis (Mark D. Ross) joined 2 Live Crew, forming the most well known and recognized line up of the group (Wong Won, Ross, Hobbs, and Campbell).

By 1986, the group released the single "Throw The 'D; it is now considered the blueprint of Miami bass.

Later in 1986, 2 Live Crew released their debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. The album established the group's signature style of comical sexually explicit lyrics.

After a slew of successful releases the group met with considerable controversy as a U.S. district court ruled the album legally obscene.

They were prosecuted, but all later acquitted.

In January 1986, 2 Live Crew released the single "Throw The 'D, the rap was performed and the lyrics were written by Wong Won. The single became an influential blueprint as to how future Miami bass songs were written and produced.

On July 25, 1986, the reconfigured 2 Live Crew became popular locally and nationally with the release of their Gold-certified debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are.

Notorious for sexually explicit lyrics, that made many DJs of the time uncomfortable.

In 1988, 2 Live Crew released their second album, Move Somethin' It was also certified Gold and featured the singles "Move Somethin'" and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy".

Reached #68 on the Billboard 200 and #20 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts.

2 Live Crew's third album As Nasty As They Wanna Be (1989), became the group's most successful commercial studio album and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The album's single "Me So Horny" peaked at 26 of the Billboard Top 100 chart.

A clean version of the album, As Clean As They Wanna Be was released concurrently with the explicit version.

After the group's first separation in the early 1990s, different incarnation of 2 Live Crew took place for their subsequent albums, Wong Won is the only one to appear in all of them.

In 1990, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled As Nasty As They Wanna Be to be legally obscene, becoming the first album in history to be so declared by a federal court; this ruling was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

An obscenity trial followed, where all of the defendants, including Wong Won, were eventually acquitted.

Later that year, 2 Live Crew released Banned in the U.S.A..

The album included the hits "Do the Bart" peaked at 20 on the Top 100 chart.

The eponymous title single referred to the earlier federal court obscenity ruling regarding the group's previous album As Nasty As They Wanna Be. Bruce Springsteen granted the group permission to interpolate his song "Born in the U.S.A." for the single.

Banned in the U.S.A. was also the first album to bear the RIAA-standard Parental Advisory warning sticker.

Wong Won was the first prominent Asian and Asian American rapper, releasing his first solo album, The Chinaman, in 1992.

In the 2000s, he continued touring and releasing singles with 2 Live Crew.

Wong Won's last projects, before his death in 2017, were his autobiography My Rise 2 Fame (2015) and the compilation Breaking Glass Ceilings Volume 1 (2017).