beneficial look and the correct gimmick can take you far in the music business , but throw in a great Song dynasty — something the average person might still be able to recite from computer memory three decades subsequently — and you ’ve pay back a recipe forridiculouslevels of success . This is one lesson to be gleaned from the story of Kris Kross , the teenager whang duo that ruled the existence for a little while in the ’ ninety .
Featuring rappers Chris “ Mac Daddy ” Kelly and Chris “ Daddy Mac ” Smith , Kris Kross rose to international fame with their infective 1992 launching individual , “ Jump . ” It took just four week to achieve No . 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 , and it propelled their introduction album , wholly Krossed Out , to the top of the Billboard 200 . In less than a year , the LP wentquadruple atomic number 78 .
“ Jump ” was a super - attention-getting song ramp up onsamplesof several songs , including The Jackson 5 ’s “ I Want You Back , ” and when the “ Jump ! alternate ! ” part of the chorus hit , it was almost impossible to keep your feet planted . And then there was the duo ’s look : Smith and Kelly rocked mega - sloppy jean , baseball cap , and oversized sports tee shirt — all outwear backwards .
Kris Kross managed to nullify becoming a one - hit wonder . Their second album , 1993’sDa Bomb , went platinum , while 1996’sYoung , Rich & Dangerous , their third and terminal LP , went gold , spawning one last Top 20 hit , “ Tonite ’s Tha Night . ” But changing tastes and the natural life hertz of artists meant that the pair ’s time in the limelight was abbreviated .
When Chris Kellydiedof a drug overdose on May 1 , 2013 , at the age of 34 , it had been years since most hoi polloi had thought about Kris Kross . And yet news of his cash in one’s chips now made millions of thirty - somethings nostalgic for the days when the Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac had everyone airborne .
Made In the Mall
Chris Kelly and Chris Smith meet as first graders in the Atlanta region . “ We ’re twins who do n’t look like each other , ” SmithtoldThe New York Timesin 1992 . They grow to be close acquaintance with a shared love of hip - hop , rap along to records by Eric B & Rakim and Run - DMC . While they were interested in show business , they never really thought it was potential — until one day when they went sneaker stag at the Greenbriar Mall and spot the local distaff tap trio Silk Tymes Leather .
Smith and Kelly asked for an John Hancock and forthwith caught the eye of the group ’s producer , Jermaine Dupri , an ambitious music - game crampon whose father had been route director for the likes of the S.O.S. Band and Cameo . Dupri could n’t facilitate but acknowledge everyone in the mall gaze at the well - dressed preteenager as if they were already famous .
“ I had never seen no little shaver look like me , ” DupritoldThe Washington Post . “ That ’s what it was . They had on almost better geared wheel than me . Almost . Fresh new sneakers . I was like , ‘ Wait a minute . How old are these kids ? ’ ”
Dupri took the boys ’ phone telephone number , even though they told him they did n’t really rap and only sort of danced . He was convinced they had star quality , and over the next couplet of years , he began crop their talent as rapper . In Dupri ’s approximation , their skill “ proceed from terrible to excellent , ” and in the outpouring of 1991 , he landed them a deal with Ruffhouse Records , a recording label distributed by Columbia .
Ruffhouse gaffer Joe Nicolo was patently ingrain by “ Lil ’ male child In Da Hood , ” a Song dynasty about the coarse realism of privileged - city life , as get by a distich fresh - faced Thomas Kid who could rap without cursing .
Totally Krossed Out
Dupri compose and produced almost all of the boys ’ debut , wholly Krossed Out . It took him about two years , though he admits to spending only 30 minutes on “ alternate , ” the Sung that would make Kris Kross a global phenomenon .
“ It was an idea to attempt to make a call - and - answer phonograph record , something that everybody could be a part of , ” DupritoldComplex in 2013 . “ They were kid , and I live that it want a thing to sequester to it . It was an overall theme . I go out everybody jumping at most of the concerts at this time of me going to concerts . It was like , I should make a song about what I see . ”
The last spell of the puzzle was the group ’s style . In consultation , Kelly and Smith suppose they work with Dupri to break their everything - backward aesthetic , the “ whole krossed out ” aspect , as they shout it . ( Angela Smith , Chris ’s female parent , toldThe Washington Postthatshecame up with the distich ’s name , as she remembered that a teacher used to call Kelly “ Chrissy Crossy Apple Saucy ” because he only ate applesauce . )
“ Kris Kross means up is down , exit is correct , and the opposite is the adverse , ” SmithtoldThe New York Times . “ That ’s who we are . That ’s why we wear our clothes this way . ”
That tone was on full display on March 29 , 1992 , when Kris Kross delivered a spirited performance of “ Jump ” on the pop Fox sketch comedy showIn Living Color . The single had been out since February and failed to make much interference , but buoyed by the prime - time tv set appearance , itdebutedat No . 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and shoot to No . 12 the following week . Two weeks later , on April 25 , it was the No . 1 Sung dynasty in America .
Even critics were on display board . Robert Christgau , the so - called “ Dean of American Rock Critics , ” praised “ Jump,”calling it“one of those piece of work of art that makes rock and twine worth live on for , a triviality that sweeps all questions of import and wholeness aside . ” “ start ” wound upplacing thirdonThe Village Voice ’s prestigious Pazz & Jop year - close critic poll .
“ jumping ” remained at No . 1 for eight workweek , during which timeTotally Krossed Outtoppedthe Billboard 200 album chart for two nonconsecutive weeks . The record album bear a 2nd Top 20 single in “ Warm It Up , ” and in June 1992 , Michael Jackson release his “ Jam ” music video , which featured a cameo by Kris Kross . The pair joined the King of Pop on the European leg of his Dangerous World Tour that summertime .
A Side of Beef
A minor subplot in Kris Kross ’s rise to stardom was their involution in afour - way beefinvolving fellow Atlanta heartthrobs Another Bad Creation , a.k.a . ABC ; Philly upstarts Da Youngsta ’s ; and the duo Illegal , feature Mr. Malik , a cousin-german of Snoop Dogg . In the chess opening rhyme of “ Jump , ” Kelly raps , “ Do n’t essay to compare us to another bad picayune fad , ” which was a blatant poking at ABC .
In April 1993 , Da Youngsta ’s hopped into the disturbance with “ Crewz Pop , ” boast the anti - Kris Kross line : “ I pray for the chump that bumps me or bet me like a tinder / So skip , jump if you want me . ”
Kris Kross fired back in August 1993 with “ Alright , ” featuring Smith knap , “ See , I ai n’t come out wack I came out in good order / Unlike those moles who tried to ‘ Pass Da Mic . ’ ” ( “ Pass Da Mic ” was a Youngsta ’s single from 1992 . ) Also in 1993 , Illegal dropped “ We Getz in use , ” in which Mr. Malik mentions Kris Kross by name and chew up them for rapping word they did n’t write : “ Ca n’t write ya own rime , sellin ’ Jermaine ’s life sentence stories . ”
Malik after told4080magazine that he and his bandmate , Jamal Phillips , got into a fisticuffs with Kris Kross at MTV personality Ed Lover ’s natal day party . Whatever happened , Kris Kross lived to agitate another day , and the other mathematical group more or less faded into obscurity .
Rap fame in the ’ XC could be incredibly fleeting ( see : MC HammerandVanilla Ice ) , but Kris Kross stuck around longer than some might have require . With their 1993 soph album , Da Bomb , the teens adopted the West Coast rosehip - hops strait popularized by Dr. Dre and turned in a slightly more matured ingathering of songs . The single “ Alright , ” have Jamaican dancehall artist Super Cat , crack the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 , and the record album wentplatinum .
The duette followed it up with 1996’sYoung , Rich & Dangerous , feature the single “ Tonite ’s Tha Night , ” which reached No . 12 on the Hot 100 , their highest placement since “ Jump . ” The track “ Live and Die for Hip Hop ” features vocal from Aaliyah , and while the album only went Au , Jermaine Dupri praise it years afterwards in aninterviewwith okayplayer .
“ Those are hood - classic records on that album , ” Dupri said . “ I feel like when we make music or rap records , we always try not to simulate somebody . That third Kris Kross album , Young , Rich & Dangerous , it do n’t voice like nobody else ’s records . And we were doing thing that still were forrader of its time that people were even doing . ”
Kris Kross split up follow that record album , and Smith and Kelly for the most part vanish from the public oculus . In later years , Smith started the fashion and lifestyle brandUrbane Muse , where he betray all variety of habiliment and accessories , as well as his latest album , 2023’sSMITH , Vol . 1 .
Kelly spent his post - fame years study audio frequency engineering , operating his own indie record label , and running a day care facility with his mother , grant toThe New York Times . He reportedly still get into his pant backward . Somewhere along the direction , like so many teenaged stars before him , Kelly developed a drug use . On May 1 , 2013 , he died of an overdose . He was just 34 .
“ Our friendship begin as little boys in first grade , ” Smithsaidin a affirmation . “ We grew up together . It was a approval to achieve the success , travel the world and entertain Kris Kross fan all around the world with my best Quaker . ”
Before Kelly ’s prematurely passing , Kris Kross performed one last clock time . The duo took the stage at Atlanta ’s Fox Theater on February 23 , 2013 , at a concert keep the twentieth day of remembrance of So So Def , the label founded by Jermaine Dupri . By this time — thanks partly to Kris Kross pave the manner — Atlanta had become a hotbed for rap medicine . Their setlist included “ Warm It Up , ” “ rise , ” and “ Live and Die for Hip Hop . ”
In twinkle of what happened less than three months after , Kelly ’s opening business line on the first verse of “ know and fail for Hip Hop ” seem to emphasise the entire Kris Kross saga . “ I commit my whole life to rockin ’ mics , gettin ’ crowds lift , ” Kelly rapped that night in Atlanta . “ Put my pants on backward ’cause I wanted to be different . ”
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