Kriss Kross rapper Chris Kelly dies of drugs overdose

edwin May 05, 2013 0 Comment

Chris Kelly of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade’s most memorable songs with the frenetic Jump, has died aged 34.

Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said he was pronounced dead around 5pm local time yesterday at the Atlanta Medical Centre.

She said the authorities are unsure of the cause of death and that a post-mortem examination has yet to be carried out.

Kelly, known as Mac Daddy, and Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, were introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri after he discovered them in an Atlanta mall. The duo wore their clothes backward as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was Jump. The hit, from their multi-platinum 1992 debut album Totally Krossed Out, featured the two trading verses and rapping the refrain, the song’s title.

The song was written by Dupri and was a No 1 smash in the US and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.

It was an 18-year-old Jermaine Dupri who discovered Kelly and Smith at a local shopping mall in 1990.

“They were real fresh. People were paying attention,” Dupri said in the Billboard Book of Number One Hits. “I said, ‘If you have that captivation over people right now, if you had a record out, this might be ridiculous’.”

Their success led to instant fame – they toured with Michael Jackson, appeared on TV shows, and even had their own video game.

The group was never able to match the tremendous success of their first song, though they had other hits like Warm It Up, and Tonite’s tha Night.

I will be paying my tribute to Chris today by wearing my cloths backward to college and hoping I dont get in trouble!

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