Back in the early 90s was the time in hip-hop when trends started taking off and sticking. During this time, you had so much variety in hip-hop, with conscious rappers, West Coast rappers, East Coast rappers, and everyone in between. One of those rap groups, Kriss Kross, not only caught our ear, but also took hold of our attention with their style and swagger while being so young.
So it’s no wonder that the hip-hop world was stunned when Chris Kelly, one-half of the 90′s Hip-Hop group, passed away nearly 12 years ago, suddenly at age 34.
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 biggest song was “Jump,” which instantly led to a multi-platinum album and global recognition.
During the height of their stardom, Kriss Kross had us all wanting to “Jump, Jump” and wear all of our clothes backwards. Their debut album, Totally Krossed Out, was released on March 31, 1992, and sold four million copies in the U.S. It included the hit single “Jump”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and held that position for eight weeks.
The music videos from the album also experienced major success. The video for “Jump”, directed by filmmaker Rich Murray, went to No. 1 on MTV and sold over 100,000 copies as a VHS video single. The video for their follow-up single, “Warm It Up”, also directed by Murray, won a Billboard video award for “Best New Artist.”
The duo also landed a spot on Michael Jackson’s 1992 European Dangerous World Tour as well as a cameo appearance on Jackson’s music video for his 1992 single “Jam”. Additionally, they made appearances in the music videos for Run-D.M.C.’s “Down with the King” (1993) and TLC’s “Hat 2 da Back” (1992), and they were featured in an episode of A Different World and as the closing musical act on the May 29, 1992, episode of In Living Color.
A video game starring the pair, titled Kris Kross: Make My Video, was released in 1992 on the Sega CD system. It consisted of the players editing together the group’s music videos for 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 editing session to make sure to have certain footage compiled into the video. It was ranked 18th on Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the “20 Worst Games of All Time”. Kris Kross made a cameo appearance in Ted Demme’s film Who’s the Man? (1993), which starred rapper Ed Lover and radio personality Doctor Dré of Yo! MTV Raps fame.
Kris Kross were also part of the promotional campaign for Sprite in 1993 of which they recorded an exclusive rap, a promotional photoshoot, and a commercial for the brand.
Legendary Atlanta radio host DJ Greg Street, music producer Bryan-Michael Cox and others in the music business took to Twitter to offer condolences. His cause of death by drug overdose was officially confirmed by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office.
Kelly’s mother, Donna Kelly Pratte, and his uncle told police that her son had an “extensive history of drug use” and that he had taken “speedballs” — a potentially fatal cocktail of heroin and cocaine — the night before his death, TMZ reported.
Speedball (or powerball) is a mix of cocaine with heroin or morphine taken intravenously or by insufflation. The original speedball used cocaine hydrochloride mixed with morphine sulfate, as opposed to heroin. Speedball may also use pharmaceutical opioids, benzodiazepines or barbiturates along with stimulants. However, since opioids and sedative-hypnotics have different objective and subjective effects, stimulant-depressant mixtures are known by the slang term “set up”. A cocktail of drugs of this magnitude can cause a strong physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
Although many people speculated on the former child star lifestyle, a representative on behalf of the Fulton County Police Department revealed that witness accounts and evidence collected at the scene all point to an apparent drug overdose, CBS Atlanta reports.
READ: Drug Overdose: How To Handle The Situation
Could those around him could have seen the signs of substance abuse earlier? Who knows. But here are some behavioral signs of drug use or substance abuse that could help save a life.
Teen/Young adult drug abuse behaviors include:
Physical indicators of possible substance use or abuse include:
The last time Kelly was seen was during a performance at the star-studded So So Def 20th Anniversary Concert in Atlanta. Kris Kross was joined by Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow, Bone Crusher, Jagged Edge and other prodigies of So So Def Records.
READ: The Alarming Abuse Of Prescription Drugs
The day following his death, mentor and Kris Kross producer Jermaine Dupri tweeted a “letter to fans”, in which he referred to Kelly as “a son that I never had”, and praised Kelly as an artist. Chris Smith wrote, “Chris Kelly was my Best Friend. He was like a brother. I love him and will miss him dearly. Our friendship began as little boys in first grade. We grew up together. It was a blessing to achieve the success, travel the world and entertain Kris Kross fans all around the world with my best friend. It is what we wanted to do and what brought us happiness. I will always cherish the memories of the C-Connection.”
“To millions of fans worldwide, he was the trendsetting, backwards pants-wearing one-half of Kris Kross who loved making music. But to us, he was just Chris — the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party,” Kelly’s family said in a statement.
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