Kris Kross

Kris Kross
Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith and Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly Circa 1993
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Genre(s)	Hip Hop
Years active	1992–1996 2007-present
Label(s)	Ruffhouse Columbia Records So So Def Recordings
Associated acts	Da Brat Jermaine Dupri
Website	http://www.legacyrecordings.com/Kris-Kross.aspx
Members
Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith

Kris Kross was a teenage rap duo in the early 1990s most famous for wearing their clothes backwards. The two members of Kris Kross were Chris (Mac Daddy) Kelly, born August 11 1978 (1978-08-11) (age 29) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Chris (Daddy Mac) Smith, born January 10 1979 (1979-01-10) (age 29), also in Atlanta.

History

Kelly and Smith were discovered in 1991, at the age of 13, at Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, by Jermaine Dupri. Dupri thought the duo "looked like a rap group," and came up with the gimmick of having the two wear their clothes backwards. The duo's album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992 and sold four million copies in the US. It included the hit single "Jump", which sampled the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," and stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for eight weeks. This landed them a spot on Michael Jackson's European tour that year as well as a cameo appearance on Jackson's "Jam" video. They also made appearances in Run DMC's Down with the king and Dj Nab's Live megamix. They played thugs on the 90s sitcom A Different World, and also appeared on the sketch comedy show In Living Color In 1992, a video game directed by Dennis Dyack was released starring the pair titled Kris Kross: Make My Video. It was released on the Sega CD system, and consisted of the player editing together the group's music videos to a few of their hit songs using portions of the original music videos, stock footage, and general video animation effects. Players were prompted before each edit session to make sure to have certain footage compiled into the video. The game was released only in the United States and to very lackluster sales figures and dismal reviews. It was ranked 18th on Electronic Gaming Monthly's list of the "20 Worst Games of All Time".^[1] The duo also had a cameo appeareance in the 1993 Ted Demme film Who's the Man? with Ed Lover and Doctor Dré hosts of MTV's Yo! MTV Raps, the networks first hip hop oriented show. The film also features Salt N Pepa, Naughty By Nature, Ice-T, Colin Quinn, Denis Leary, Bernie Mac, Bill Bellamy, Eric B, Flava Flav, and many others. The movie had modest success, but remains a cult favorite amongst rap enthusiasts for cameos of dozens of rap /hip-hop stars. Released in 1993, a second album, entitled Da Bomb failed to match their early success. The album featured more hardcore lyrics directed at their critics. 1996 saw the release of their final album Young, Rich and Dangerous which was even less successful than Da Bomb. The duo virtually disappeared from the public eye after the release of their last album. The duo is currently active in music still and in 2007 the group has plans to release a new studio album in 2008, claimed Chris Kelly on Myspace.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

• "Jump" (1992) (U.S. #1, UK #2)
• "Warm It Up" (1992) (U.S. #13, UK #16)
• "I Missed the Bus" (1992) (U.S. #63, UK #57)
• "It's A Shame" (1992) (UK #31)
• "Alright" 1993) (U.S. #19, UK #47)
• "I'm Real" (1993) (U.S. #84)
• "Da Bomb" (1994)
• "Tonite's Tha Night" (1995) (U.S. #12)
• "Live and Die for Hip Hop" (1996) (U.S. #72)

References

External links

• Kriss Kross at Legacy Recordings