Atlanta Rapper Chris Kelly of Kris Kross Dies of Drug Overdose

He died Wednesday.

Produced by another teen and budding hip hop mogul Jermaine Dupri, Jump included a sampling of the 1970’s hit Funky Worm by the Ohio Players.  

Rapping as Mac Daddy in 1992, Chris Kelly and his young teen partner Chris Smith literally jumped into the spotlight with this hard bass driven hip hop song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010KyIQjkTk

“For Atlanta in particular they were the first of what we know as the Atlanta music scene now. They were the first superstar act period,” says Atlanta based music writer Sonia Murray.

She recalls how quickly Kris Kross overlapped into the pop charts and also caught the attention of some other big stars.

“They had eight weeks at number one. They opened for Michael Jackson. They were in a video with the greatest basketball player, arguably ever Michael Jordan, for the Jam song with Heavy. They were genuine super stars out of Atlanta.”

Besides the music, Kris Kross also introduced a strange, but appealing way of dressing.

The group wore their pants and shirts backwards, a fad that won over many young fans.

Recently Kriss Kross reunited to perform for the 2oth anniversary of Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def record label.

Murray says, two decades removed from their initial success, Kris Kross didn’t disappoint.

“Grown people standing up doing the same thing jumping and acting crazy like it was and they seemed to really revel in just the appreciation from the stage.”

Chris Kelly died of an apparent drug-overdose.

He was 34 years old.