The Tragedy of Kris Kross: Small Fish in a Big Pond of Piranhas

If you grew up in the early to mid-'90s & didn't live in a cave like the Dinosaurs ('90s TV reference, heh),  you've heard of Kris Kross.  This braid-sporting, baggy-pants wearing rap duo from Atlanta hit the scene in '92 with their hit singles "Jump" & "Warm It Up".  They popularized the "Totally Krossed Out" style with their backwards clothes, hats & matching sports jerseys. 

Discovered by Jermaine Dupri in a Greenbriar, Atlanta mall, these 2 friends grew up under the glare of the spotlight, their sales waning significantly with each subsequent album release as they matured & outgrew their innocent 'cutesy' image.  But why?  And what happened to cause a stark change in the boys' appearance/demeanor over the years, which was apparent in both photos & interviews from the time? 

The tragic tale of Kris Kross is a story as old as time... or at least as old as Hollywood.  




America's Creepy Obsession with Tween Sensations

Child stars are always in demand

From the moment a tiny tapdancing Shirley Temple first graced the silver screen with her curly-Q locks & thousand-watt smile, child stars have been a mainstay in American society.  And from the very earliest days of Hollywood, child labor exploitation & sexual abuse at the hands of adults in the industry was a known problem.  Starting with Jackie Coogan in the 1920s, "stage parents" who stole their childrens' financial earnings were another well-publicized issue--one that's also continued to the present day with stars like Macaulay Culkin & the Carter brothers (Nick & the late Aaron).  

The Jackson 5, whose father-slash-manager Joe berated & beat young Michael & has been accused of sexually abusing sister La Toya, ruled the '70s.  Menudo, a Spanish boyband consisting of a rotating roster of members who were sexually abused & trafficked by their manager to vile creatures like Jose Menendez(!) & then replaced by younger boys, was all the rage in the '80s.  Meanwhile the '90s belonged to alleged pedophile & financial fraudster Lou Pearlman, who spawned boy/girl groups including N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, O-Town, Innosense, LFO, Take 5 & more. 

Despite all the known problems, the demand for a constant stream of child stars in both the acting & music industries hasn't slowed a bit in the "woke" 21st Century, with big names like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Quvenzhané Wallis, Daniel Radcliffe, Willow Smith & Justin Bieber
being household names.  Reality TV and Youtube brought about the rise of the child 
influencer/reality star--two fields even more ripe for financial abuse than the mainstream Hollywood
path, as there are NO laws dictating that these kids see a single cent of their earnings. 

Unlike traditional child stars, online & reality child stars aren't even networking or building a portfolio/resume,
instead serving merely as their parents' meal ticket on exploitative shows like "19 Kids & Counting" or
"Here Comes Honey Boo Boo".  And can't forget the trainwreck that is "Sister Wives," which played a large
role in driving Garrison Brown, 25, to take his life if his final texts are to be believed.  Then you have
horror stories like those of Ruby Franke's kids, whose abuse was partially documented on her vlogging
channel for years before she was finally arrested.  Her daughter Shari has spoken to UT lawmakers about
the dangers of family vlogging.

Child stars have about a 50% chance--the flip of a coin--of ending up destitute, addicted to drugs and dying prematurely as a result of these traumatic experiences, yet for some sick reason American audiences of all stripes clamor for "fresh blood", i.e. new budding child stars to obsess over.  The fact that one member of Kris Kross lived and the other died at the young age of 34 bears out this twisted statistic. The tragic fates of Judy Garland, Bobby Driscoll, Dana Plato, Jonathan Brandeis, Anissa Jones, River Phoenix, Brad Renfro, Brittany Murphy & Aaron Carter have done nothing to quench our thirst for these underage "heartthrobs." 

Chris Kelly was far from the only '90s rap / R&B star to battle with or succumb to addiction:  Ricky Bell of Bell Biv DeVoe, Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd, Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston, AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys, Coolio, ODB, Eminem, Pimp C, DJ Screw, Bizzy Bone, DMX, & the King of Pop himself all went down this road--only a handful came out the other side alive.




The Kris Kross Kraze

With all that said, it should come as no surprise that a group like Kris Kross was super-popular in the early '90s.  Their complementary skin tones--one light & the other dark--tight braids, youthful non-threatening voices & gimmicky style of dress were exactly what the music industry needed in those days. There were other child rap acts before them & around the same time:  ABC, Immature (later "IMX"), Illegal, Shyheim, Jordy, Da Youngstas & Quo (starring a young Wade Robson), but Kris Kross made the biggest splash in both the music & fashion worlds, and it's not hard to see why.

They looked like brothers from another mother; little girls wanted to date them & boys wanted to be them, if only for the super-cool lifestyle they portrayed.  Daddy Mac (Chris Smith) & Mac Daddy (Chris Kelly) were their stage names, and they were marketed as sort of fraternal twins or photo negatives of each other... each serving as the "yin" to the other's "yang".  Party rap duo Kid 'n Play had a similar formula and came out a couple years prior, paving the way for this lighthearted, upbeat style of music.  

JD with his young proteges, Chris Smith (left) & Chris Kelly (right)

But someone has to be responsible for spotting & refining this type of youthful talent.  How does an adult, let alone an adult MALE like Jermaine Dupri ("JD"), know what tween & teen consumers (mostly female) will go crazy for?   Unfortunately tween girls & p£dophiles often have similar taste in boys.  🤮  Creeps like Lou Pearlman had a boyband "formula" he swore by:  one older/mature member to attract older fans (i.e. Kevin Richardson), one baby of the group to bring in the youth (Nick Carter), a bad boy (AJ Mclean), an emo heartthrob (Brian Littrell) and a Latino (Howie Dorough).  Yep, you read that right.  A "Latino".   

In the case of Kris Kross, JD might've had some help in the discovery department.  Chris and Chris weren't discovered at a talent show or shopping demos & looking for a record deal--they were spotted in an Atlanta mall, not rapping or performing but merely "looking cool" & being mobbed by a pack of girls while walking around.  This is when the budding 19-year-old producer & label owner saw his chance, convincing the boys & their moms to let him mold them into teen idols.  And to his credit, he did a great job of choosing beats, writing rhymes for the duo (who had never rapped a day in their lives) & otherwise convincing young music buyers they were the real deal.  I certainly bought into the Kris Kross hype as a little girl who was roughly in the same age range as they were.

Katt Williams has made some BOLD claims about JD over the years.

What else Dupri may have done or exposed them to is anyone's guess.  Unlike Katt Williams, I make no claims one way or the other.  We can only go off the duo's past interviews/song lyrics & stories from other insiders who may have witnessed unsavory acts. 

Speaking of song lyrics, Kris Kross' 1996 album Young, Rich & Dangerous is full of lyrical clues that things might've been going off the rails with the Chrises. (And their unreleased 2000 album, apparently penned without JD's input, is downright depressing and bleak at times).  YR&D chronicles wild house parties, drinking/smoking & group sex with lyrics like:

Chris Smith

Ding dong it's on, nigga say no more

I'm wit a truck full of women so just open the door

Cut her up, slice her down, take her back to the crib

It's the daddy of em all and you know how i live  

I, keep the pad full of women, bad bodies in bikinis on deck
For when I wanna get wet

Chris Kelly 

Me & Daddy for the big picture

Mr. Quick-to-hit your sister

Over age, never under

Wonder in the words of Aaliyah, Age Ain't Nuthin' But A Number

So I takes 'em, shakes 'em, show 'em the ropes

Let 'em get a little taste and then they never let go

But, it ain't no fun if your homie can't have none

So, at this point, I let her in the situation

Let her know from the door just what it is

If you don't do mine, then you don't do his.

These lyrics may seem tame in the W.A.P. era, but keep in mind Kris Kross were just 17 and 16 when this album came out... potentially younger when it was recorded.  Where would they have been exposed to the idea of group sex or "sharing" girls--a practice many consider a bit... gay?  But more importantly, it would've been illegal if carried out with adults in the room.  Sure, there were other songs about this subject floating around at the time but again, these were underage children.  I struggle to think of another teen duo or group that had such explicit lyrics at that age.  (Actually, the songs these lyrics were taken from were written and produced by Jermaine Dupri with the exception of that second couplet by Chris Smith, which adds yet another layer of 'wtf' to this saga).

How most people view mmf threesomes.  Just sayin'.

Were the super-sexual lyrics a ploy to sell their more "grown up" image to fans who had grown up alongside them, or were they really living like that?  Some of the skits on the album are even more graphic, specifically "It's A Group Thang".  See for yourself.   By the time this skit played, I'd lost count of the # of references to gangbangs/group sex, specifically between the 2 Chrises & whatever woman/girl they were supposed to be sharing.  It's clear the writer of those songs had, at minimum, a fantasty involving the Chrises engaging in sexual acts together.  They had to in order to write the lyrics.  That in itself is wrong, but if said author encouraged or coerced them to act them those fantasies out in real life, he belongs in prison.  (Note that there wasn't any more of this icky content on their 4th unreleased album which it sounds like they wrote themselves without JD's input).  

Add the fact that the Kris Kross boys were always dressed in matching outfits with the same hairstyle until Chris Kelly lost his hair to alopecia & shaved it off.  Musical acts often have coordinated looks when onstage performing at a big event like the Billboard Awards or posing for a Tiger Beat centerfold, but these 2 were twinning 24/7...  any time they were photographed candidly in public from roughly '92 to '96.  Even cheesy boybands like Backstreet Boys, BTS & One Direction didn't do that.  Whose idea was that? 

There's nothing nefarious about it per se, but it is pretty rare to see teenage males intentionally coordinating their hairstyles, clothing & jewelry on a daily basis.  And how many teen boys/male friends of that age do you know who refuse to sleep with a girl unless their "homie" is present & participating?  This was most certainly the brainchild of someone older & more experienced... maybe someone who'd envisioned this as the endgame for the duo since Day 1 when they were even younger...

10 of 12 tracks credited to JD

A look at the credits shows that Jermaine Dupri produced not only the "Group Thang" skit but 80% of Young, Rich & Dangerous.  Again, I'm not saying JD specifically committed CSA the way Chris Stokes (B2K), Lou Pearlman (N*Sync, Backstreet Boys) or Edgardo Diaz (Menudo) have been accused of, but there were signs that inappropriate conduct was going on according to the late Chris Kelly's mom.  Drunken, stoned parties, sex with older women when the boys were not of age...  Things she never would've allowed in her home. 

The boys with their moms  🩷

But what do you expect when you sign your minor child over to a much older man, a total stranger, and a rising rap mogul at that?  Just think of all the shady characters the boys likely ran into at after parties & industry events... the clubs they had no business being in.  The likelihood of sexual abuse increases exponentially when kids are housed with or brought around unrelated males, mostly because it increases their statistical likelihood of encountering a p3dophile.  (As you'll see in a minute, it wasn't only men who were at fault here).  Add the fact that these kids were miles from their father OR their mother & the risk increases even more.  From the groupies to the gun-toting goons that often make up rap entourages, there's little doubt the Chrises saw & experienced way too much too young. 

Only a decade prior & in the same city, the Atlanta Child Killer Wayne Williams had recruited victims by putting up ads seeking young talent for a potential musical group to come to his radio station for auditions.  All the victims of the Atlanta Child Killer were Black, most were under 18 & many were male.  There wasn't a person alive at that time who lived in that area who wasn't acutely aware of these crimes.  Therefore turning your babies over to a stranger with dollar signs in his eyes should've seemed even more unfathomable back then. 

🤮 Screencap from Lil' Wayne's virginity story

Again, it didn't have to be Dupri himself, and it didn't even have to be direct CSA in order to cause damage:  Some people take pride in "corrupting" the youth, getting them high or drunk for the first time, exposing them to their first sexual encounter or porno mag.  (Lil' Wayne's graphic story of losing his virginity to an older girl at age 11 as adults like Birdman cheered him on is particularly disturbing).  I was given my 1st mixed drink at the ripe age of 10 & told to "chug-chug-chug" by a friend's mom while she & her friend cackled at my screwface expressions.  Another friend's dad offered me beer at 14.  (Trust, I didn't look a day over 12).

Gary Coleman & Shavar Ross with creepy "Mr. Horton"

These things are all highly ILLEGAL as well as irresponsible, and they speak to darker motives if you ask me.  Why would an unrelated adult even hang around kids that age, let alone find enjoyment in "partying" with them?  Kids are annoying--tell them to go kick rocks & play outside if you're gonna party!  There's really no innocent reason to be wasted around a kid or engaging in risque sexual behavior in their presence, let alone encouraging THEM to partake in these adult activities.  Doing so is often a form of grooming or desensitization as we learned from that "Very Special Episode" of Diff'rent Strokes.  (Incidentally, 2 boys on that episode--Todd Bridges & Shavar Ross--were ACTUALLY abused by industry perverts at various points prior to filming that show.  Ross came to my grade school to give a motivational speech when I was a kid & I saw him up-close, but he neglected to mention that detail).  

Woops, sorry for this detour through '90s Memory Lane y'all. Back to Kris Kross.  

Predatory Industry Women

Kris Kross DJ claims Kelly had relations with girlband member Chili, 7 years his senior.

Then you have the even more damning claims of adult women sleeping with Chris Kelly when he was underage.  Rapper Daz Dillinger, formerly of Death Row Records & Tha Dogg Pound, claimed in an interview that Jada Pinkett Smith was "entangling" with Chris Kelly in 1993, when he would've been 14-15 & she 21-22.  Sounds like he was smoking weed at that age too if I'm hearing him right.  While we hear about female teachers sexually abusing even younger male students like weekly now, this is in no way okay, especially when you consider Jada's later "entanglement" with the much younger August Alsina which she confirmed herself.  He was over 18 but the age gap was still gross, especially because Alsina was friends with her son (and she's married).  He was 22 & sick with an autoimmune disease while staying with the Smith family, & she was FORTY-THREE.  A pattern of behavior emerges--one that's worth looking into legally if nothing else.

Again we hear similar claims about Rozonda "Chili" Thomas of TLC, who was 7 years older than Chris Kelly when they allegedly hooked up.  This claim comes directly from a very close source:  Kris Kross' long-time musical partner, DJ Nabs.  It was also physically plausible because Kris Kross starred in TLC's video for "Hat 2 da Back" (1992).  Neither woman has ever responded to these claims, either in the press or via the defamation/slander lawsuits one might expect if they were wrongly accused of such a hideous act.   👀

With TLC & Oprah (Chili, upper left)

More frustratingly, no law enforcement agency has followed up on them or questioned anyone.  Who was setting up these illicit meetings?  Why would TWO grown-ass famous women get involved with the same teen boy?  Did this only happen to Chris Kelly, or was Chris Smith also victimized by adults?  Somebody somewhere has answers to these questions & they ought to come forward, especially since one of the victims has died.  You owe it to his family & his memory to tell the world what you know.  Those who have spoken on it seem to treat it as a joke, which is even more inappropriate considering the untimely death of the victim. 

But the Chrises might've had an even bigger problem to contend with by the late '90s.  When your teenage years are one long, intense party & suddenly the party people move on, then what?  Not only did the revelers move on, but it appears their "mentor" Jermaine Dupri left them high and dry for greener pastures after '96.  He released a "solo" album (full of features) in 1998 & went on to found So So Def, working with artists like Da Brat, Lil' Bow Wow, TLC, Anthony Hamilton & Usher to name a few.  Dupri was a total unknown newbie to the music industry when he signed Kris Kross on his Ruffhouse division of Columbia Records & used them to gain crucial experience & recognition (and significant wealth--4 million copies of their 1st album sold; it went quadruple platinum with 4 hit singles & spent several weeks atop the Billboard charts). 

And then the flaky, fickle American public moved on & so did Dupri. Just how much, if anything, the guys had left to show for sacrificing their childhoods to help Dupri launch his whole brand & record label is not known.

The miggity Mack in the miggity middle.  🤫

Breakup, Reunion & The Death of Chris Kelly

By the end of the '90s, the musical landscape had changed so much since Kris Kross burst onto the scene, first from poppy New Jack Swing to hardcore gangsta rap in the mid-90s then again to the shiny suit club bangers of Puff Daddy, Ma$e & Jay-Z by the end of the decade.  By that point the Totally Krossed Out trend seemed like a lifetime ago--we'd survived the crack and AIDS epidemics, gang wars & "superpredators" & lost the 2 biggest rap stars in the world in unsolved homicides as we approached a brand new millennium.  The Kris Kross boys were tired, particularly Chris Smith who wanted to do his own thing in the art/design world. 

Both members attended Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia--Chris Smith studying marketing & business and eventually founding One Life Entertainment, Inc. and Chris Kelly studying mix-engineering & founding C-Connection Records.  They recorded one final album in 2000 but you can tell their hearts weren't in it as it sat on the shelf (unheard & unreleased) until recently.  By the early-2000s Kris Kross as a musical act was considered defunct... a relic of a bygone era.  

Child stars, however, have remained a staple in all branches of the entertainment industry.  Lil' Bow Wow, Lil' Romeo, Rihanna (only 16 in 2005 when discovered by Jay-Z), the late Aaron Carter & the ill-fated B2K consisting of a 14-year-old Omarion and 3 others who were 16 when they started are just a FEW examples.  If anything, the post-Kris Kross era has been even more child-centric due to the advent of Autotune, which lets industry execs basically choose whichever PYT they like based on looks & marketability alone while smoothing over their inability to carry a tune almost as an afterthought.  Thus the quality & complexity of pop music have taken a massive nosedive in the intervening years since KK disbanded.  They're not missing out on much--they did always seem more serious & mature for their age than these goofy Gen Z kids anyway.  Then again, how much of that was just their natural personalities vs. trauma they incurred while in the business?   

The sad thing is we'll never know.  Not unless Chris Smith opts to write a tell-all, anyway.  After a one-night reunion at a So So Def function where they performed as Kris Kross after years out of the spotlight, Chris Kelly was found dead of a cocaine/heroin overdose on May 1, 2013.  He was 34.  I was crushed.




Kris Kross & My Dreams of Childhood Stardom (lol)

So much swag: KK in their Da Bomb era

For grade school me, Kris Kross were the epitome of cool, from the braids to the baggy clothes to their raps, which actually didn't suck (even if they didn't pen most of them).  Some verses & tracks were downright fire, such as Chris Kelly's verses on "Da Bomb" & "Warm It Up." I had a giant KK poster on my bedroom door & would often argue with friends over which member was "my boyfriend" that day.  (I alternated between wanting to date them and wanting to BE them, as I wasn't aware of my budding homosexuality yet).  And of course I had all 3 albums & several VHS recordings of their live performances.  These guys exuded "swag" & "rizz" before there was such a word, and they looked genuinely chill to hang out with.  Many stars did just that, from Michael Jackson (yikes?) to Eazy-E to Biggie Smalls & Aaliyah.  Wow, R.I.P. to all 4.  Plus Chris Kelly.  😞

I guess this is what getting old feels like--losing all your childhood idols & lamenting the state of "music these days".  If I had to choose between growing up in this era or the one I was born in, I wouldn't change a thing.  The authenticity & quality of music, movies & other art forms of my heyday made it almost impossible to even tolerate the assembly line crap of more recent years, and not just because I'm old.  Kris Kross were the epitome of a manufactured teenie bopper group, yet their music & swag was miles ahead of anything out today, and I'll die on that hill.  From the Telecommunications Act to the birth of Autotune to the Loudness Wars of the early 2000s, popular music is hot steaming garbage now.  There will NEVER be another time like the '70s/'80s/'90s & I'm glad I got to witness it firsthand. 

(L to R) Ed Lover, Chris Kelly & Jermaine Dupri

As much as I loved Kris Kross as a kid, I'd trade it all for them to have had a normal childhood & for Chris Kelly to still be here.  (I delusionally believed I would be "discovered" in my rural Wal-Mart until I was about 11, but after hearing all the horror stories & learning what really goes on with child stars in the business, I'm glad that dream never came true).  Kris Kross's unlikely origin story made the impossible seem within reach, at least for a while.

Chris Kelly's death at 34 put the final nail in the coffin of that dream.  It was just senseless, yet I understand why he might've turned to drugs.  Allegations of sexual exploitation aside, it's gotta be hard to go from being the hottest commodity on the planet, touring with the likes of Michael Jackson & appearing onscreen with Oprah & Michael Jordan, to being mocked mercilessly by assholes like this wannabe journalist.  Kris Kross's only crime was growing up which is the case for all child stars, who were only ever valued by the public for their novel, adorable--and to some perverts--physically attractive attributes.  Once they 'age out' it's all over.  Nothing they ever do will be good enough, and that's beyond unfair.  There is no class that prepares you for becoming a 20-year-old Has Been, often with nothing to show for it financially. 

Our double standard when it comes to different types of child labor is also fucked up.  Kids are not allowed to work in fields, factories or coal mines, yet all those restrictions vanish when it comes to the seedy, financially exploitative entertainment industry.  We've got to move past our desire for new child stars as a society because the supply will only stop when the demand dries up.  Instead we're going in the opposite direction, with Florida proposing a reversal of child labor laws in general.  Whether those resolutions pass this time or not, the writing's on the wall:  America doesn't give a single shit about its most vulnerable members.

(Misleading screencap) Interview with Chris Kelly's mom

Today & Beyond

Chris Smith can be found on Facebook & Instagram today.  Since leaving Kris Kross, he's put out a couple songs and a lot of art, especially since losing his buddy in 2013.  He appears happy & stable, or at least as happy as these stone-faced guys ever looked.  Shortly before his death, Chris Kelly was spotted in a public park with patchy hair loss & 1 or 2 braids, still sporting backward pants.  Of course he was mocked by bloggers at the time.  Hope they feel good about themselves now.  It's claimed that the Kris Kross reunion fueled his "drug spiral," but what about unnecessarily cruel articles like that?  Do people think celebrities are immune to hurtful comments or do they just lack the humanity to care about the fallout?  

Here are some of my favorite photos of Kris Kross throughout the years, some of which are edited/enhanced by me.  Notice their change of appearance & demeanor as they got older.  I think it's safe to say that something traumatic happened to them, whether it was a form of direct abuse or just the burnout of working their childhoods away in an unforgiving industry.  I hope Chris Smith has found peace in his adult life & wish him all the happiness in the world.  

Oh, and for the true stans:  here's their full unreleased album from 2000.  You're welcome.  ☯

Unreleased Kris Kross album in full

 

☆ ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡ ｡･ﾟﾟ･･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡ ｡･ﾟﾟ･･ﾟﾟ･｡ ★

(Click to enlarge)

 
  

・。.🕊✭・Rest in Peace, Chris Kelly・✫🕊. 。・
1978-2013















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