Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly, Kris Kross rapper, dead at 34

[Adam (UTR)]

Chris Kelly, member of the rap group Kris Kross, is dead, an investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to the Huffington Post. Kelly was 34.

The Medical Examiner's Office said it could not provide more details about the circumstances of his death at this time.

An unnamed source told CBS Atlanta that Kelly was found dead at his Atlanta home.

(Huffington Post)

[Caviar]

Damn!! "Jump Jump" was the first tape I ever bought. Wow!!

[Deleted]

:'(

Gotta wear my PJs backward tonight.

[Nick]

Damn, only 34. So sad.

[Deleted]

Wow. RIP to him.

[bogglethemind]

Saw this all over twitter. He was so young. RIP to him. :(

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

R.I.P

[कामसूत्र]

RIP. :'( So sad.

I wasn't their biggest fan though I do remember "Jump" being all over the radio stations and getting played at parties and stuff when it was a single. It was absolutely massive.

[Deleted]

This is so sad, especially considering how young he was. It's kind of strange considering the last thing I listened to before hearing about this was TLC's "Hat 2 Da Back" remix which has vocals from Kris Kross at the very beginning. R.I.P.

[Deleted]

Kris Kross: A Billboard Chart History

While Kris Kross' chart star burned relatively quickly in the early- to mid-'90s, it burned brightly, with the duo scoring one of rap's, and the entire rock era's, biggest hits with its debut single, "Jump."

The pair's Chris Kelly died Wednesday (May 1) at age 34. Kelly and Chris Smith comprised the twosome.

Having been discovered in 1990 by 18-year-old rapper/producer/songwriter Jermaine Dupri while they were shopping for sneakers at an Atlanta mall, according to Fred Bronson's "Billboard Book of Number One Hits," Kris Kross blasted onto the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 61 the week of April 4, 1992, with "Jump," which Dupri wrote and produced. The song's title befitted its chart fortunes: it soared to No. 12 the next week, then to No. 3, before beginning an eight-week command. By the time its reign wrapped, "Jump" was, at the time, one of only 11 songs to top the Hot 100 for at least eight weeks, dating to the chart's launch on Aug. 4, 1958. No other rap song had led the chart for so long. And no title had led for such a length since the Police's "Every Breath You Take," which also dominated for eight weeks, in 1983. "Jump" ranked as the third-biggest hit of 1992 when Billboard ranked the year's top 100 hits that December.

"Jump" additionally topped Billboard's Rap Songs chart for five weeks and rose to No. 2 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Parent album "Totally Krossed Out" crowned the Billboard 200 for two weeks amid a 65-week chart run, and led Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for six weeks; it appeared on that chart for 55 weeks. The set has sold 4 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Dupri told Bronson that he got the idea for "Jump" at a concert. "I watched the crowd. I watched how people were just jumping," he said. "Rappers had been doing it and I said we should make a record like this.

"I went home and wrote the song in an hour."

While Kris Kross never repeated the level of Hot 100 or Billboard 200 success that it enjoyed with its debut single and album, the pair remained a rap and R&B/hip-hop force through the mid-'90s. 1993's "Da Bomb" debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, as did 1996's "Young, Rich and Dangerous," the twosome's last studio release. The sets (which peaked at Nos. 13 and 15 on the Billboard 200, respectively) have sold 702,000 and 506,000 copies, respectively, bringing the act's career U.S. album sales to 5.2 million, according to SoundScan.

Following "Jump," Kris Kross scored three more No. 1s on Rap Songs: "Warm It Up" (three weeks, 1992), "Alright," featuring Super Cat (two weeks, 1993), and "Tonite's Tha Night" (five weeks, 1996). The tracks rose to Nos. 3, 8 and 6, respectively, on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Dupri told Bronson that Kris Kross' appeal was evident from that first meeting that netted the pair far more than new sneakers. "They were real fresh. People were paying attention," he said.

"I said, 'If you have that captivation over people right now, if you had a record out, this might be ridiculous'."

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/1560164/kris-kross-a-billboard-chart-history

[Deleted]

So young :(

[HolidayGuy]

Wow- was he ill or something? RIP.

[Deleted]

Drug OD

[Deleted]

Kriss Kross rapper Chris Kelly dead from apparent overdose

Read more: www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/01/rapper-chris-kelly-0s-duo-kriss-kross-has-died-at-age-34/#ixzz2S8h731qy


ATLANTA – Chris Kelly, half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade's most memorable songs with the frenetic "Jump," has died, and authorities say they are investigating his death as a possible drug overdose.

Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said the 34-year-old Kelly was pronounced dead around 5 p.m. Wednesday at the south campus of the Atlanta Medical Center.

Cpl. Kay Lester of the Fulton County police said "it appears it may have been a possible drug overdose."

An official cause of death is pending an autopsy.

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 the pair in an Atlanta mall. The duo wore their clothes backwards as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was "Jump." The hit, off their multiplatinum 1992 debut album "Totally Krossed Out," featured the two trading versus and rapping the refrain, the song's title. The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. It would become a No. 1 smash in the United States and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.

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."

Earlier this year, the group performed together to celebrate the anniversary of Durpri's label, So So Def.



Read more: www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/01/rapper-chris-kelly-0s-duo-kriss-kross-has-died-at-age-34/#ixzz2S8gqmCad

[Deleted]

Jermaine Dupri:

[Tea-why]

How sad. Way too young. R.I.P.

[HolidayGuy]

Ugh. yet another potential loss to drugs? Some people really need to wake up this regard.

[Deleted]

Billboard ‏billboard 1m
Cocaine & heroin suspected in Kris Kross rapper Chris Kelly's death