Damn, talk about a blast from the past... http://www.ajc.com/news/news/kris-kross-rapper-chris-kelly-dies-at-34/nXdpq/ ------------------------------------- ‘Kris Kross’ rapper Chris Kelly dies at 34 By Alexis Stevens The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Rapper Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly died Wednesday afternoon after being found unresponsive in his home. Kelly, 34, was part of the duo “Kris Kross,” known for their backwards clothes and 1992 hit “Jump.” Kelly was found unresponsive and transported to Atlanta Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Officer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The cause of death was not immediately known. An autopsy is planned for Thursday morning. An Atlanta native, Kelly and the other half of the duo, Chris Smith, were discovered at Greenbriar Mall in 1990 by now-famous entertainer and producer Jermaine Dupri. “Kris Kross” was one of the first acts Dupri signed to his So So Def Records label, and in February, the duo was among many to perform at an anniversary show at the Fox. This time, neither Chris had their clothes on backward. The duo opened the show, which featured numerous other entertainers. Though the catchy “Jump” was the most famous song for “Kris Kross,” the pair also recorded the “Rugrats Rap” for Nickelodeon — Please return for updates. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/010KyIQjkTk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Dudes my age. I remember being too cheap to buy their record and waiting for hours listening to the radio trying to get a recording without the DJ piping in at some point. Too young.
Man they were dope back then. I remember as a kid jumping to this song and still thought Vanilla Ice was cool.
Yeah, before urban/gangster or even the marketing/promotional appreciation of "street cred" really took center stage in '92 - '93, rap music had a lot of different types of crossover acts and sub-genres getting serious backing, airtime and sales in the early, early '90s. Milli Vanilli, C&C and Techno-tronic all hit with songs that were technically rap compositions but clearly targeted towards fans of completely different genres. And after Vanilla Ice proved that you could make it palatable for Caucasian suburban adolescents and broadcast TV, traditional producers started churning out these ironic child rap/R&B acts like Kris Kross, ABC and Raven Symone (if you're old enough this girl's multi-million dollar music and TV career, as a black female child actor more successful than any of the Cosby kids, doesn't really make any sense).
2013 Performance <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DCLXChS2eBQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
From a rap standpoint Vanilla was as cool as the rest of them, especially the ones that are all actors now. Black culture was just re-ascendant in the early '90s and very protective of their perceived creative turf; and Vanilla's publicists responded very, very poorly.
90s rap was just brilliant. I'm not sure if Kriss Kross falls under new jack swing rap along with Another Bad Creation another kid group rappers but 90s had so many different types it was unbelievable and the talent was on another level. R.I.P!!!
Sometimes the record button would make both go down. I remember in 6th grade on the last day of school all the cool 8 the graders had there pants on backwards.
Man the songs in my cassette tapes back then never started from the very beginning of the song because I always press record a second or three too late. Then near the end, you could hear the DJ blessing us with his annoying voice for about a second before I cut it off.
