In 1992, thirteen year old rappers Chris "Daddy Mack" Smith and Chris "Mack
Daddy" Kelly became pop sensations with the release of their debut album Totally
Krossed Out. The duo was discovered in an Atlanta mall by producer Jermaine
Dupri, who took them under his wing and conjoured up the silly gimmick of having
them wear their clothes backwards. I can
only imagine how ridiculous they must have looked pulling their pants down at a
urinal.
The release of their first single, "Jump", was incredibly successful; it
became the fastest selling single in 15 years, helping to sell four million
copies of Totally Krossed Out. The following single "Warm It Up" was another
hit which quickly went gold.
In 1993 Kris Kross released a follow up album called "Da Bomb", but by the
time it was released, their voices noticably deepened as they hit puberty. To reflect this change in themselves, they tried to change their image to be more hardcore, to less success.
They mounted a comeback attempt in 1996 with Young, Rich and Dangerous, but by then their novelty had worn off.
Editors Note:
Chris Kelly, one-half of the rap duo Kris Kross, died Wednesday, May 1, 2013, of an apparent drug overdose. He was 34 years old.
source: http://allmusic.com