Fresh Kid Ice

Christopher “Fresh Kid Ice” Wong Won was a half-Chinese, half-Trinidadian rapper best known as a founding member, and the only consistent member, of the controversial Platinum-certified hip hop group 2 Live Crew. He is recognized as the first popular Asian-American rapper and a pioneer of the Miami Bass sound.

Ice was born in Trinidad in 1964 and his family moved to Brooklyn in 1977. In 1984, he formed 2 Live Crew with DJ Mr Mixx and rapper Amazing Vee in California. When their single “Revelation” became popular in Florida, Luther “Luke Skyywalker” Campbell offered to manage the group if they relocated. Vee declined and was later replaced by Brother Marquis. Between 1988 and 1992, the group scored two top 40 hits and five of their albums were certified Gold or Platinum.

Ice released his first solo album The Chinaman in 1992, featuring the singles “Freak "Em Down” (aka “Dick ‘Em Down”) and “I’ll Be There” (aka “I’ll Be Here”). In 1994, Ice and Luke released Back At Your Ass For The Nine-4 with Larry “Verb” Dobson under the name The New 2 Live Crew featuring the singles “You Go Girl”, “Yeah Yeah” and “2 Live Freestyle”.

Still Nasty surfaced in 2000 along with its single “I Wanna Dance Yall”. Stop Playin' and its title track came out in 2003 under the artist name ‘Chinaman aka Fresh Kid Ice’. In 2004, Ice released Freaky Chinese and its single “Make Ya Baby Daddy Madd”, which features a pre-fame Flo Rida as a member of The Groundhoggz.

Ice published his autobiography My Rise 2 Fame in 2015. He passed away in 2017. He will be “looked upon as a trailblazer who helped clear the way for free expression in hip-hop” and “showed the world how appealing an Asian emcee could be”.