Kris Kross consisted of Atlanta natives Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly (born August 11, 1978) and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith (born January 10, 1979). Childhood friends, Kelly and Smith were discovered in 1991, at the age of twelve, by Jermaine Dupri at an Atlanta shopping mall. Dupri thought the two “looked like a rap group”, and proceeded to groom them as such.
Their Dupri-produced debut album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992; selling four million copies in the US. It included the hit single “Jump”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. In the interim, the duo landed a spot on Michael Jackson’s European tour that year, as well as a cameo appearance on Jackson’s “Jam” music video. In addition to this, they also made appearances in the music videos for Run DMC’s “Down with the King”, TLC ‘s Hat 2 Da Back and DJ Nab’s “Live megamix”. They were also featured in an episode of A Different World.
In 1992, a video game directed by Denis 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 to poor sales figures and dismal reviews. It was ranked 18th on Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the “20 Worst Games of All Time”.[1]
Kris Kross made a cameo appearance in Ted Demme’s 1993 film Who’s the Man?, which starred Ed Lover and Doctor Dré of Yo! MTV Raps fame. The movie earned modest box office success, but remains a cult favorite amongst rap enthusiasts for cameos of dozens of rap/hip-hop stars.
Their second album entitled Da Bomb, released in 1993 featured a more hardcore ambiance than their first. Although it was certified platinum, and spawned the hit “Alright”, the album failed to match their earlier success. Most of their songs had been directed at rivals Da Youngstas, Illegal and Another Bad Creation. A third album, Young, Rich & Dangerous, was released in early 1996 and was certified gold. It spawned the two hits “Tonite’s tha Night” and “Live and Die for Hip Hop”. Following its run, the duo virtually disappeared from the public eye.
As of 2007, the group has reunited[citation needed], currently working on different projects and still working for Jermaine Dupri. Chris Smith is releasing his new album, Urbane Expressions sometime in 2008, the first single from his album is titled “Lady”. Chris Kelly has his own label called C.co records
Kris Kross consisted of Atlanta natives Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly (born August 11, 1978) and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith (born January 10, 1979). Childhood friends, Kelly and Smith were discovered in 1991, at the age of twelve, by Jermaine Dupri at an Atlanta shopping mall. Dupri thought the two “looked like a rap group”, and proceeded to groom them as such. Read the rest of this entry »
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