Christopher Wong Won (May 29, 1964 – July 13, 2017), also known by his stage names Fresh Kid Ice and Chinaman 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.
After a slew of successful releases the group met with considerable controversy as a U.S. district court ruled the album legally obscene.
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.
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).
[1] 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.
Wong Won met fellow Airmen Yuri Vielot (Amazing Vee) and David Hobbs (Mr. Mixx), with whom he formed the rap group 2 Live Crew.
[4] 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.
[6] 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 January 1986, 2 Live Crew released the single "Throw The 'D'", the rap was performed and the lyrics were written by Wong Won.
[17] The eponymous title single referred to the earlier federal court obscenity ruling regarding the group's previous album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.
[41] Rapper Flo Rida, then unknown, with his underground group named GroudHoggz participated in Wong Won's 2004 release.
In August, Wong Won and Ross announced the pending release of an album named, Just Wanna Be Heard.
[51] On January 13, 2017, Wong Won released his final project, a compilation album named Breaking Glass Ceilings Volume 1.
[56][57] When 2 Live Crew started to gain traction, Wong Won said that many fans had no clue that he was Asian until the group's music videos were released.