KRS-One
KRS-One (born
Lawrence Parker on
August 20,
1965 in
Brooklyn,
New York) is an
American hip hop MC. Over his career he has been known by several
pseudonyms, including
Kris Parker,
KRS One,
KRS-ONE (as given at his site[
1]),
The Blastmaster and
The Teacha. KRS-One is an
acronym for "'K'nowledge 'R'eigns 'S'upreme 'O'ver 'N'early 'E'veryone". KRS One is a significant figure in the
hip hop community and is often referenced in works by other
hip hop artists and critics as being the 'essence' of an MC and one of the greatest rappers to hold the mic.
KRS-ONE, originally a member of the hip hop crew
Boogie Down Productions, is known for setting the path for both
hardcore rap and socially conscious political rap.[
2]
Born Lawrence Parker in the
Park Slope neighborhood of
Brooklyn in 1965, the future KRS-One grew up with his brother Kenny and their single mother in assorted
inner city neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the Bronx. According to interviews with
The Source Magazine, one fateful day when he was 12 years old, he and his brother Kenny prepared a pan of flavored rice, which was to be the family's dinner for the evening. The hungry pair ate the whole thing, and when their mother came home from work, she kicked them out of the apartment in a fit of anger. They stayed away for two days before younger Kenny decided to go back home, while Lawrence opted not to return. He spent the better part of the next seven years
homeless, much of it at local libraries.
In his late teen years, Lawrence Parker fell in with some illegal drug dealers and became a courier. Using a bread delivery truck as a cover, Parker and his partner drove around town to make drops. During one of their trips, a police car pulled up behind them with flashing lights. Parker's partner panicked, and led the cops on a chase for several miles which ended with the truck crashing and the two being apprehended. At the trial, the judge made the commentary that the only reason the police had initially tried to pull them over was because they had private plates on a commercial vehicle, there was no original intent to search for drugs.
Parker, still a minor, claimed he was a ward of the state, and got sent to a juvenile home for his sentencing, after which he was moved to a
Covenant House youth homeless shelter. It was there that he met
Scott Sterling, a recent college graduate who just started working at the shelter as a social worker. Parker discovered that Sterling moonlighted as a hip hop DJ under the name
Scott La Rock. By this time, Parker had earned the nickname "Kris" from the relationship he had developed with local
Hare Krishnas that evangelized near the shelter. Heavily influenced by Eastern philosophies, he was also an aspiring rapper, and practiced routines in verbal spars with the other shelter residents.
Parker and Sterling, along with two other fellows, decided to form a rap group together, initially calling themselves "Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three". That was short-lived, however, as the two peripheral members quit, leaving Parker (now calling himself KRS-One) and Sterling. They then decided to call themselves "Boogie Down Productions".
Success is the Word, a 12-inch single release on indie
Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records (under the group name "12:41") did not enjoy commercial success. Soon after, the pair approached another NY indie, Rock Candy Productions, for a deal. As it turns out, the entertainment company was allegedly a front for a pornography operation, but Parker and Sterling convinced the boss to front them the money to record an album, under the newly created subsidiary label,
B-Boy Records. After a few 12-inch single releases, the
Criminal Minded album finally surfaced in 1987.
 |
KRS One and Scott La Rock on the cover of Boogie Down Productions' 1987 album, Criminal Minded. |
Criminal Minded featured many
dis tracks that attacked other hip hop emcees and tracks about street crime ("wa da da deng wa da da da deng, listen to my nine millimeter go bang"). KRS One and La Rock appeared on the cover of the album holding
firearms, a controversial precedent that would be followed by many rap artists in the years to follow. Musically, the album was based around
James Brown samples and
reggae influences. They also sampled hard-rock band
AC/DC on "Dope Beat". During these years, KRS-One was also famously involved in a
hip hop battle with
MC Shan, of
Queensbridge. KRS objected to MC Shan calling Queensbridge the home of hip hop, and attacked him viciously on a seminal
battle rap,
The Bridge Is Over.Following the fatal shooting of Scott La Rock in 1987, Boogie Down Productions (BDP) became increasingly political. KRS One was the primary motivation behind the
HEAL compilation and the
Stop the Violence Movement. KRS One attracted many prominent emcees to appear on the
12-inch single "Self Destruction." As Parker adopted this more conscientious, less violent approach, he stopped calling himself "The Blastmaster" (his
battle rap nickname), and instead began calling himself "The Teacha", turning the nickname KRS-ONE into the
backronym "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone".
On his first solo album,
1993's
Return of the Boombap, KRS worked together with producers
DJ Premier (
Gang Starr),
Showbiz and
Kid Capri. The catchy yet very hardcore track "Sound of da Police" is featured on this album. His second album,
KRS One featured
Channel Live on the track "Free Mumia", a political protest song about
Mumia Abu-Jamal, an imprisoned
African-American and
Black Panther member who a vocal group of activists on the
political Left claim is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. Other prominent guest artists on
KRS One included
Mad Lion,
Busta Rhymes,
Das EFX and
Fat Joe.
 |
KRS One's 2004 album, Keep Right |
In
1997, Parker surprised many with his release of the album "I Got Next". The record included a remix of the single "Step into a World" which featured a sample from the
1970s rock group
Blondie by commercial rap icon
Puff Daddy. "Heartbeat", featuring
Angie Martinez and
Redman, was based on the old school classic "Feel the Heartbeat" by the
Treacherous Three. These collaborations with notably mainstream artists took many fans and observers of the vehemently anti-mainstream KRS One by surprise. However, in August
1997 KRS One appeared on
Tim Westwood's
BBC Radio 1 show and vociferously denounced the DJ and the radio station more generally, accusing them of ignoring his style of hip-hop in favour of commercial artists such as Puff Daddy.
In 1999, there were tentative plans to release an album called "Maximum Strength"; a lead single, "5 Boroughs", was released on
The Corruptor movie soundtrack. However, KRS apparently decided to abort the album's planned release, just as he had secured a position as a Vice-President of A&R at
Reprise Records. KRS moved to southern California, and stayed there for two years, finally ending his relationship with
Jive Records with
A Retrospective in 2000. The next year, he resigned his position at Reprise and in
2001 The Sneak Attack was released on
Koch Records. In
2002, he released a gospel-rap album,
Spiritual Minded, surprising many longtime fans. Parker had once denounced Christianity as a "slavemaster religion" which African-Americans should not follow. He founded the
Temple of Hiphop, and released a new album,
Kristyles, in mid- 2003, which was preceded by
KRS-One: The Mixtape. In the summer of
2004 he released
Keep Right.
KRS One's latest CD "
Life", was released in June 2006, and another CD, "
Adventures in Emceein" on
Koch Records is slated for later in the year. KRS has also confirmed for his next album of new material, expected to be out in 2007, he will be working with
Marley Marl.
In
2004, KRS engendered a controversy when he was quoted in a panel discussion hosted by
New Yorker Magazine as saying that Blacks "cheered when
911 happened". The comment drew criticism from many sources, including a pointed barb by the
New York Daily News that called Parker an "anarchist" and said that "If
Osama bin Laden ever buys a rap album, he'll probably start with a CD by KRS-One."
[Widdicombe, Ben, et al. "KRS-One, decency zero". New York Daily News. Retrieved 6 September 2005.].
Parker responded to the furor surrounding his comments with an editorial written for AllHipHop.com
[KRS One. "KRS One Rebuttal To NY Daily News Article". Allhiphop.com. Retrieved 6 September 2005.]. In it, Parker said "I was asked about why hiphop has not engaged the current situation more (meaning 911), my response was 'because it does not affect us, or at least we don't perceive that it affects us, 911 happened to them'. I went on to say that 'I am speaking for the culture now; I am not speaking my personal opinion.' I continued to say; '911 affected them down the block; the rich, the powerful those that are oppressing us as a culture.
Sony,
RCA or
BMG,
Universal, the radio stations,
Clear Channel,
Viacom with
BET and
MTV, those are our oppressors those are the people that we're trying to overcome in hiphop everyday, this is a daily thing. We cheered when 911 happened in New York and say that proudly here. Because when we were down at the
trade center we were getting hit over the head by cops, told that we can't come in this building, hustled down to the train station because of the way we dressed and talked, and so on, we were
racially profiled. So, when the planes hit the building we were like, 'mmmm, justice'. And just as I began to say 'now of course a lot of our friends and family were lost there as well' but I was interrupted..."
Solo albums
| Album cover | Album information | | Return of the Boom Bap
*Released: September 28, 1993
*Billboard 200 chart position: #35
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #5
*Singles: "Outta Here"/"I Can't Wake Up", "Sound Of Da Police" |
| KRS-One
*Released: November 7, 1995
*Billboard 200 chart position: #19
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #2
*Singles: "MC's Act Like They Don't Know"/"Represent the Real Hip Hop", "Rappaz R N Dainja"/"Ah Yeah" |
| I Got Next
*Released: May 20, 1997
*Billboard 200 chart position: #3
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #2
*Singles: "Heartbeat"/"A Friend", "Step Into A World (Rapture's Delight)", "Cant Stop, Won't Stop"/"The MC" |
| The Sneak Attack
*Released: March 27, 2001
*Billboard 200 chart position: #43
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #9
*Singles: "I Will Make It", "Hot"/"Get Yourself Up" |
| Spiritual Minded
*Released: January 22, 2002
*Billboard 200 chart position: -
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #64
*Singles: "South Bronx 2002" |
| The Mix Tape
*Released: August 27, 2002
*Billboard 200 chart position: -
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #32
*Singles: |
| Kristyles
*Released: April 22, 2003
*Billboard 200 chart position: #186
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #30
*Singles: "Underground" |
| D.I.G.I.T.A.L.
*Released: November 25, 2003
*Billboard 200 chart position: -
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: -
*Singles: |
| Keep Right
*Released: July 13, 2004
*Billboard 200 chart position: -
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #80
*Singles: "Let 'Em Have It/Phucked" & "Illegal Business '04" |
| Life
*Released: June 13, 2006
*Billboard 200 chart position: -
*R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: -
*Singles: "My Life" |
With Boogie Down Productions
Compilation albums
*
A Retrospective (
2000)
*
Best of B-Boy Records (
2001)
* "Clobberin' Time/Pay The Price" by
Sick Of It All from
Blood, Sweat, And No Tears (
1989)
* "
Radio Song" by
R.E.M. from
Out of Time (
1991)
* "
Good Kill" by
Too Much Joy from
Cereal Killers (
1991)
* "The Jam" by
Shabba Ranks (1991)
* "Rough..." by
Queen Latifah on
Black Reign (
1993)
* "East Coast-West Coast Killas" by
Dr. Dre from
Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath (
1996)
* "C.I.A. (Criminals In Action)"
Zack de la Rocha, KRS-One,
The Last Emperor on
Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1 (
1999)
* "B-Boy 2000" by
Crazy Town on
The Gift Of Game(
1999)
* "Kenny Parker Show 2001" by
Xzibit from
Restless (
2000)
* "Return of Hip Hop" by
DJ Tomekk on
The Return of Hip Hop (
2001)
* "U must learn" by
Snoop Dogg on
Welcome to tha chuuch mixtape vol.2(
2003)
* "Bin Laden (Remix)" by
Immortal Technique* "Ocean Within" by Saul Williams
(Unreleased) (
1999)
* Money, Power, Respect by Nas, KRS-One,
dead prez* Pack Up (Remix) by
Lyrics Born* "Our Philosophy" by Mr R, Rockin'Squat and KRS 1 (2005)
* "
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (
1988) - KRS One and BDP walk behind Jack Spade performing his
theme music* "Who's the Man?" (
1993) - Rashid
* "SUBWAYstories: Tales from the Underground" (
1997) - Vendor
* "Rhyme & Reason" (
1997) - Himself
* "The Freshest Kids" (2002) - Himself
* "Boricua's Bond" (
2000) -
* "
2Pac 4 Ever" (
2003) - Narrator
* "Beef" (
2003) - Himself
* "Hip-Hop Babylon 2" (
2003) - Himself
* "Soundz of Spirit" (
2003) - ?
* "5 Sides of a Coin" (
2003) - Himself
* "War On Wax: Rivalries In Hip-Hop (February 2004) - Himself
* "The MC: Why We Do It" (
2004) - Himself
* "Beef 2" (
2004) - Himself
* "
And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop" (
2004) - Himself
* "Hip-Hop Honors" (
2004) - Himself
* "Keep Right DVD" (
2004) - Himself
* "Zoom prout prout" (
2005) - Himself
KRS-One is also the title of a song on
Sublime's
40 oz. to Freedom album. The song is a tribute to the aforementioned musician.
*
KRS-One Official site
*
KRS-One entry at All Music Guide*
KRS-One's Temple of Hip-Hop*
KRS One Lyrics*
Krs-One's Discography @ TheRapCella.com
