|
Kris Kross was a young rap duo of 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 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and Chris (Daddy Mac) Smith (born January 10, 1979, also in Atlanta).
Kelly and Smith were discovered in 1991 at Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, by Jermaine Dupri. Dupri thought the duo "looked like a rap group", so he started working with them immediately. The duo's album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992 and sold more than four million copies. It included the hit single "Jump", which 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 in Michael Jackson's "Jam" video.
It became a short-lived fad for youths to wear their clothing backwards.
1992, at the peak of their popularity, a video game 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 in the U.S. only 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.
Released in 1993, a second album, entitled Da Bomb failed to match their early success. 1996 saw the release of their final album Young, Rich & Dangerous . By the end they stopped wearing their clothes backwards.
A curiosity of Kris Kross' career was a television commercial they starred in to advertise the soft drink Sprite in 1992–93.
After the group's demise, Kelly and Smith began writing and producing albums. In 2003 both Smith and Kelly announced plans to come back into the "rap game" - "hitting heavier and harder than they ever had." However, nothing has come of this announcement.
There are numerous reports on the Internet and elsewhere that Kelly had leukemia, as he appears in later videos with a shaved head, with various internet rumors that he died in the early 2000s. These are all unverified, and Kelly has been seen on television appearances even after being reported dead.
|
