KRS-One

Source:

 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

KRS-One

1965–
African American rap and hip-hop artist, who is known for his highly political material.

KRS-One was born Lawrence Kris Parker in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the South Bronx. Originally a graffiti artist, he founded the seminal Rap group Boogie Down Productions (BDP) in 1986 with disc jockey Scott LaRock (original name, Scott Sterling). Their first album, Criminal Minded (1987), combined LaRock's harsh, spare, reggae-influenced beats with KRS-One's long-winded rhyme style on underground classics such as “9mm Goes Bang” and “South Bronx.” The album's gritty portrait of life on the streets (as well as the firearms that adorned its cover) influenced the gangsta rap movement that began in earnest two years later.

LaRock was fatally shot while attempting to mediate a dispute soon after Criminal Minded was released, but KRS-One continued to record as BDP, releasing a second album, By All Means Necessary, in 1988. The album retained some of the thuggish imagery of Criminal Minded but also explored the black radicalism suggested by its title, a riff on the words of Malcolm X: “by any means necessary.” In tracks such as “My Philosophy,” “Stop the Violence,” and “Illegal Business,” KRS-One affirmed his new persona—“The Teacher”—with scathing diatribes against institutionalized racism and black-on-black crime. Soon after, KRS-One joined other rappers to form the Stop the Violence Movement, which addressed many of the same issues. By All Means Necessary stands as one of the most political Hip-Hop albums to date.

In 1989 BDP's third album, Ghetto Music: Blueprint of Hip Hop, was released, and KRS-One expressed his increasing Afrocentrism on a lecture tour of colleges and universities. BDP's fourth effort, Edutainment (1990), contained the hit “Love's Gonna Get ‘Cha (Material Love),” but some critics complained that the group was running low on inspiration. After two more albums, KRS-One dissolved BDP and embarked on a solo career, beginning with the highly acclaimed Return of the Boom Bap (1993). Since then, KRS-One has maintained his status as one of hip-hop's most committed voices. While continuing to release successful solo albums, including KRS-One (1995) and I Got Next (1997), he founded a cultural organization in 1996 (known as the Temple of Hip Hop) to teach hip-hop as a lifestyle and to promote its public image. In 1998 he joined the ranks of rap artists who have become music industry executives when he was named a vice president of Reprise Records. KRS-One continues to record new music and give lectures at colleges. He released his eleventh album, The Kristyle, in 2003.

See also Afrocentricity; Graffiti Art; Music, African American.

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