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If I had to pick a song that concisely defines hip hop—like, the closest thing we have to a dictionary definition of this genre—I’d go with the 2007 track “Hip Hop Lives.”
I can go on and on about the mind-blowing beat and the masterful production of DJ Marley Marl, but I’m especially fixated on the first two verses.
Hip means to know, it’s a form of intelligence
To be hip is to be update and relevant
Hop is a form of movement
You can’t just observe a hop, you gotta hop up and do it
Hip and hop is more than music
Hip is the knowledge, hop is the movement
Hip and hop is intelligent movement
Or relevant movement, we sellin’ the music
No eight lines have ever encapsulated the gritty, in-your-face culture of hip hop quite like these bars. It is imperative, then, that I pay tribute to the poet who penned this powerful passage.
KRS-One is a real one—an OG whose influence in the rap game has reached immeasurable depths. As a key figure of hip hop’s golden age (a period that covers the mid-’80s and the early ’90s), KRS garnered universal respect through the power of his voice and the substance of his verses. Whether as part of a collective unit or as a longtime solo artist, KRS always had a strong message to say. Invariably, his peers and fans—not to mention his foes—listened.
And why wouldn’t they? Throughout his time in the industry, KRS went beyond exemplifying the competitive culture of hip hop. With the same passion burning in his prolific music career, KRS has worked tirelessly to preserve the very culture of hip hop itself. While I doubt that hip hop will ever become a bona fide religion—his thoughts, not mine—I’d confidently say that KRS-One is an indispensable part of its glorious history.
Quick Facts
Birth Date | August 20, 1965 |
Birth Place | New York City |
Nick Name | Blastmaster, Teacha |
Nationality | American |
Zodiac Sign | Leo |
Siblings | Kenny Parker (brother) |
Children | Kris Parker (son)
Tyme Parker (daughter) Randy Parker (stepson; deceased) |
Partner/Spouse | Simone Parker |
Most Successful Songs | “Sound of da Police”
“MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know” “Step into a World (Rapture’s Delight)” |
Net Worth | Estimated value of $6 million (as of 2022) |
Social Media | twitter.com/iamkrsone
instagram.com/teacha_krsone |
Major Awards | Honoree, 2004 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors
Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008 BET Awards |
Last updated | October 16, 2022 |
Early Years
He was born Lawrence Krishna Brown on August 20, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York. When Kris was still an infant, his father Sheffield Brown was deported, as Brown was actually an illegal immigrant from Jamaica.
In 1970, Kris’ mother Jacqueline Jones got married to another Jamaican man named Parker (hence the Parker surname that Kris and his brother Kenny would eventually don). Unfortunately, Mr. Parker—who worked at the United Nations as a guard—had a mean streak within him. In a 1989 interview with People, KRS recounted how his stepfather would put a gun to his mother’s head, just to get her to stop talking.
Jacqueline and the two boys ended up leaving Mr. Parker in 1972. Then, in 1975, Jacqueline had a daughter with another man. Kris’ relationship with his half-sister would be short-lived, as the girl’s father took her away when she was barely a year old. (Reportedly, KRS has not seen his half-sister ever since.)
I wish I could say that Kris’ lot in life started to improve after that. Alas, it didn’t. At the very least, though, he discovered an outlet or two for the whirlwind of emotions that pervaded his childhood.
Hip Hop: His Constant Companion
Taking the chaos of Kris’ childhood into consideration, I think we can safely say that hip hop was no mere fad to him. It was an avenue for catharsis—the very platform that he needed to forge a sense of identity in his tumultuous, poverty-stricken life thus far.
Around the same time that his half-sister was taken away from his life, Kris was spraying grafitti on city walls. He especially loved to paint his nickname, which would gain worldwide acclaim in the ensuing years: KRS-One.
When the young man first sprayed this nickname on his urban canvas, he intended but a simple brag: Kris, number one. Later in his music career, Kris explained that an abbreviation eventually emerged from his mother’s teachings. Apparently, Jacqueline had taught him that “Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone.”
I love the origin of this stage name, but I can’t help but wonder: why nearly everyone? What caused Jacqueline—and, subsequently, Kris—to add a dose of skepticism to this otherwise optimistic mantra? Perhaps it was all the hurt and violence of their unfortunate past that caused them to doubt the all-encompassing power of knowledge.
Jacqueline ended up bequeathing another priceless commodity to her son: the love for rap music. Her collection of discs included choice cuts from The Treacherous Three and Grandmaster Flash, who were all pioneers of this fresh New York sound. Aside from rap, Kris also listened to his mother’s R&B, disco, and reggae records.
When it became apparent, however, that Kris was deadset on this rap thing, Jacqueline put her foot down. She let her 13-year-old boy know, in no uncertain terms, that he should be focusing on his academic performance. Eventually, the tension between mother and son—brought about by their differing visions of the boy’s future—led to Kris leaving home before he even turned 14.
Out on the streets by his lonesome, Kris had no choice but to grow up real fast. He took on various hustles (such as washing windows and mopping floors) to gain some sort of income. Ironically, Kris ended up improvising the key point of contention between him and his mother: education. When he wasn’t working, he was poring over volumes of religion, philosophy, and other fields of study in public libraries. (To his credit, Kris earned his GED when he was 17.)
At night, as he took refuge in homeless shelters, Kris honed his rapping skills. He might not have known it at the time, but as he performed night in and night out in front of a small audience, he was setting the stage for a career that would change his fortunes forever.
Big Breaks and Heartbreaks
When Kris was 19, he came across an interesting young man who worked as a counselor at a Bronx men’s shelter. Scott Sterling was more than a social worker during the weekends; he was also a passionate hip hop fan who took on the role of DJ at a nearby dance club after wrapping up his counseling duties.
It was a match made in heaven. Before long, Sterling (who went by the stage name Scott La Rock) was recording the raps of his buddy who donned the name KRS-One. La Rock’s valuable support for KRS didn’t stop there, as the DJ also got the aspiring rapper into the local clubs for free. It turned out that this kind gesture would beget another beautiful match for KRS, as he ended up meeting singer Ramona Scott (AKA Ms. Melody) at one of the clubs. Kris and Ramona became husband and wife in 1987.
Here’s something else that happened in 1987: the partnership of KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock finally produced a studio album.
Collectively known as Boogie Down Productions—a union that also included beatboxer Derrick “D-Nice” Jones—KRS and La Rock released Criminal Minded on the independent label B-Boy. In a 2011 biographical piece on KRS, Rolling Stone summed up the significance of the Criminal Minded project: “The album’s smooth grooves and hard rhymes foreshadowed gangsta rap.” Indeed, Criminal Minded precedes Ice-T’s quintessential gangsta album Rhyme Pays by about five months; and it also came out more than a year before N.W.A. shocked the world with Straight Outta Compton.
With Criminal Minded selling more than 500,000 copies, it became obvious to studio executives that the KRS-La Rock partnership was a blockbuster waiting to happen. Warner Brothers was, in fact, on the verge of signing BDP when tragedy reared its ugly head. In August 1987, while mediating a dispute involving his colleague D-Nice, La Rock was fatally shot. Six months after the sensational debut of their group, KRS lost his DJ, friend, and big brother.
KRS, The Teacha
After La Rock’s tragic death, a massive tonal shift could be perceived in the subsequent releases of KRS and BDP. Though the group lost an outstanding piece in La Rock, it bolstered its ranks in the ensuing years by tapping the services of KRS’ wife Ms. Melodie and her sister Harmony; KRS’ brother Kenny Parker; and hip hop acts like Lee Smith, Ced Gee, and Just-Ice.
Whereas Criminal Minded was so titled because it cast gangsta culture in a certain light, BDP’s second album By All Means Necessary basically went in the opposite direction by exploring social issues. By tackling corruption in the ranks of the government and police, as well as violence within the hip hop community, KRS started to develop a socially conscious voice that would define his legacy for years to come.
Adopting the nonviolent “Teacha” persona, KRS continued to spread his message in BDP’s third and fourth albums (Ghetto Music, released in 1989; and Edutainment, released in 1990). In the same year that Ghetto Music dropped, KRS helped put together an ensemble of artists that would call for all violence within the hip hop community to cease once and for all. With KRS at the helm, The Stop the Violence Movement (which included icons like Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, and Heavy D) issued this call to action in the track “Self-Destruction.”
In 1991, KRS was at the forefront of another all-star cast with a similar message. Consisting of Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, and other luminaries, this group released the track “Heal Yourself,” which tackled issues like racial discrimination, domestic abuse, and AIDS. (KRS and his running mates, by the way, came up with an acronym for H.E.A.L.—”Human Education Against Lies.”)
Between his BDP projects and the two ensemble releases, KRS established himself as a potent voice of conscious rap. However, as the ’90s began to unfold, some more chapters of KRS’ life and career began to close. His marriage to Ms. Melodie ended in 1992, and the BDP collective was fast falling apart. 1992’s Sex and Violence ended up being BDP’s final studio album release, thus marking the end of KRS’ run with the group that he co-founded in 1986.
But KRS, of course, was just getting started.
Sixteen Solo Albums. (Yes, Sixteen.)
“Prolific” doesn’t even begin to describe KRS-One’s solo career.
Of course, I am not about to equate quantity with quality. As in, I don’t wish to pronounce the greatness of KRS on the sole basis of his lengthy discography. What I will point out, however, is the amazing longevity that he’s had in the rap game. Critics may question the relevance of an ’80s OG in the 2020s hip hop scene, but no one can say one word about KRS’ dedication to the craft throughout the decades.
As a solo act, KRS started setting the mics ablaze in 1993, a year after the final BDP album hit the shelves. With his solo debut Return of the Boom Bap, KRS-One proved that he was an absolute force to be reckoned with on his lonesome. (Hey, this is the guy who took to the streets at the age of 13, right?) With his single “Sound of da Police” cracking the Billboard Hot 100 (and the album itself peaking at number 37 on the Billboard 200), KRS was off to a good start.
In terms of chart performance, his next two albums ended up becoming the best-performing projects of his discography thus far. 1995’s KRS-One album was star-studded on both the production front (DJ Premier, Diamond D, Showbiz) and the features list (Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe). Doubling down on the classic boom bap style of the late ’80s, the album peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200.
KRS went on to snag the number three spot with his third album I Got Next, which was released in 1997. (I dare anyone to listen to “Step into a World (Rapture’s Delight)” and not bust out dancing a minute later.) Just two months after its release, I Got Next was certified gold, thus becoming the most commercially successful album of KRS’ entire career.
At this point, let’s take a moment to acknowledge one of the most prolific streaks in the history of hip hop recording artists. Get this: in the decade of the 2000s, KRS-One released a total of seven studio albums. From 2001 to 2004, he dropped one album per year; and in 2008, he dropped two albums four months apart. Seriously, who does that? Aside from the great Jay-Z—who also dropped seven studio albums in the aughts— I can’t think of any other emcee who has been as prolific as KRS-One.
The first three of this decade’s albums (2001’s The Sneak Attack, 2002’s Spiritual Minded, and 2003’s Kristyles) were released under the imprint of Koch. However, KRS was more than displeased with the release of Kristyles, which he claimed was done by the studio label without his consent. This prompted KRS to switch camps; as a matter of fact, each of his next studio albums would be distributed by a different label.
Though the rest of KRS’ albums in the 2000s received good to very good reviews, none of these projects (2004’s Keep Right, 2006’s Life, and the 2008 releases Adventures in Emceein and Maximum Strength) ever gained significant footing in the Billboard 200. I’m happy, though, that KRS continued to be active during this time, as he also worked on a couple of collaborative albums with different partners. One of these projects, 2007’s Hip Hop Lives with DJ Marley Marl, gave rise to the aforementioned track that captures the genre in a nutshell.
On the studio album front, KRS’ production level “dipped” in the 2010s, as he released “just” four solo albums in this time frame. These were 2012’s The BDP Album, 2015’s Now Hear This, 2017’s The World is MIND, and 2019’s Street Light. During this decade, KRS-One was able to adapt to the digital terrain of the music industry by using online platforms like Bandcamp to distribute his music.
With the release of his 2020 project Between Da Protests, KRS-One joined an elite list of emcees that can claim to have dropped a solo studio album in four separate decades. This impressive feat has been accomplished by big names like LL Cool J, Eminem, and Busta Rhymes. Actually, if we’re counting albums released when KRS was still in a group, we can marvel at the fact that KRS has dropped an album in five different decades!
To date, KRS has shown no indications that he’s planning to retire soon. His most recent album release was in 2022, when he dropped I M A M C R U 1 2, the sixteenth album in his catalog. Let this sink in for a moment: BDP’s first album was dropped when the Berlin Wall was still standing, and KRS’ most recent album was released as the world continued to grapple with COVID-19.
So when will KRS ever walk away from the mic? I’d like to think that, as long as there are social ills to be addressed, the Teacha will continue to use his hip hop platform to raise consciousness. Having inhabited the very urban streets where issues of inequality and discrimination are ever pervasive, KRS-One won’t hesitate to let the world know exactly what they should be paying attention to. Because, as far as his music goes, Knowledge Reigns Supreme.
Legacy
KRS-One will go down in hip hop history as a pioneer in more ways than one. His contributions to both gangsta rap and conscious rap are palpable, and his discography has helped raise the bar in terms of a recording artist’s longevity. While he is by no means a commercial titan in the hip hop industry, KRS-One will always have the respect of his peers, fans, and even critics. If there was ever a rapper who fit the description “your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper” to a tee, it’d have to be the Teacha.
Why is KRS-One Influential?
In September 2022, Chuck D—an elder statesman of rap—sent out a series of Tweets claiming that Rakim and KRS-One “changed the way we all rhymed” and “single-handedly did to rap what Louis Armstrong [and] Duke Ellington did for jazz.” Though Chuck D said this in the context of KRS’ pioneering song structure, I think his point about KRS’ massive influence can be said about other aspects of the hip hop craft. To the benefit of every generation of rappers since the ’90s, KRS has set an impeccable example of harnessing the hip hop platform to paint a realistic picture of society, ills and all.
FAQS
Answer: Years after his 1992 divorce, KRS married his second wife Simone Parker. KRS has a son named Kris Parker who goes by the stage name DJ Predator Prime, and he also has a daughter named Tyme. KRS also had a stepson named Randy Parker who sadly took his own life in 2007.
Answer: This short-lived feud started in 1985, when Queensbridge-based talents MC Shan and DJ Marley Marl released a track called “The Bridge.” The song contained lyrics supposedly claiming that Queensbridge was the birthplace of hip hop. Taking this as an affront to their home turf, KRS and BDP released “South Bronx” which refuted the claim of Shan and Marley Marl. This led to an exchange of verbal attacks between MC Shan’s Juice Crew and KRS’ BDP. In 2007, KRS and Marley Marl officially put the feud to rest by releasing their collaborative album Hip Hop Lives.
Answer: Yes! Since the late ’80s, KRS has lectured on the importance of preserving the culture of hip hop at various colleges and universities. On a related note: in the late ’90s, KRS established an organization called The Temple of Hip-Hop Kulture, which is devoted to the same cultural advocacy that he is voicing out in his academic lectures.
Bottom Line
A number of rappers have claimed to be the king of hip hop, and one has audaciously claimed to be the Rap God. How about an emcee that claims to personify the genre itself? In a Rolling Stone interview, KRS once proclaimed: “I’m not rapping, or I’m not a rapper. I am rap. I am the embodiment of what a lot of MCs are trying to be and do. I’m not doing hip hop, I am hip hop.” Given the staggering length of his career and his profuse influence on the hip hop community, KRS-One might have spit the truth right there.
Sources
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/krs-one-mn0000359119/biography
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2015/12/04/during-brandeis-visit-krs-one-lists-his-favorite-hip-hop-albums-all-time/ltdSi9PHII6PKYNUk8XM8M/story.html
- https://www.krs-one.com/about
- https://music.apple.com/us/artist/krs-one/397029
- https://www.xxlmag.com/happy-birthday-krs-one/
- https://www.xxlmag.com/today-hip-hop-vh1-holds-first-ever-hip-hop-honors-award-show/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110408071606/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/krs-one/biography
- https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/k/ko-kz/-krs-one/#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20lecturing%20at,West%2DCoast%20All%2DStars%20anti
- https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=qVYAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1381&dq=krs-one&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj49sSy6-H6AhUHA94KHZCpAEIQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=krs-one&f=false
- https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/17/arts/pop-jazz-rap-leads-to-respectability-and-academia-for-krs-one.html
- https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-xpm-2012-jul-19-la-et-ms-ms-melodie-rap-pioneer-krsone-exwife-ramona-parker-20120719-story.html
- https://www.mtv.com/news/zo0ctv/angry-at-devious-record-label-krs-one-halts-sales-of-new-lp
- https://www.mtv.com/news/gam36v/krs-one-builds-temple-of-hip-hop-kulture
- https://rockthebells.com/articles/chuck-d-rakim-krs-one-changed-hip-hop/
- https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/rapper-krs-one-and-daughter-tyme-attend-the-2009-vh1-hip-news-photo/91074119
- https://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/krs-ones-step-son-commits-suicide-6453944
- https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-rappers/krs-net-worth/
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