don't try to compare them to another bad little fad these two best friends with
the same name didn't have dreams of fame and fortune but they would accomplish just that
with their talent and unique fashion style then after going radio silent for many years
followed by one special and nostalgic reunion performance a shocking death ended it all for good
let's find out what happened to american 90s hip-hop duo chris cross atlanta natives james
christopher kelly and christopher smith first crossed paths in the first grade
becoming instant friends they both grew up with a wide variety of musical influences
naturally they loved current hip-hop artists such as dr dre and ice cube as well as more old
school tunes by the likes of the eisley brothers parliament and al green years later in 1991 as
pre-teens while shopping at greenbrier mall in atlanta the duo would bump into up-and-coming
female hip-hop trio silk times leather as the boys asked the group for an autograph their producer
took notice of their style and swag engaged them in conversation and asked if they were a group
that producer just happened to be a then 19 year old jermaine dupree they initially said that they
weren't a group but they did like rapping every now and then they're super cool and laid-back
attitude made jermaine want to work with them even more beginning a two-year preparation journey
the boys would also adopt some new nicknames chris kelly would become
mack daddy chris smith really didn't know what to call himself so he just decided to
flip kelly's idea and become daddy mac they were introduced onto the music scene in february 1992
through their smash hit debut single called jump it topped the billboard hot 100 for eight weeks
and became certified double platinum the duo inked a deal with roughhouse records and their
debut album totally crossed out was released in the spring of 92. the album produced entirely
by germain took over the world going quadruple platinum in the us triple platinum in canada and
gold in australia the name for the album was a nod to their signature fashion style of wearing
their clothes backwards the idea came about from their desire to stand out and set themselves
apart from other artists crisscross became the youngest hip-hop duo to gain success with gold
and platinum albums at the tender ages of 12 and 13 years old the young teens were on fire
my posse chris cross hey yo first of all we want to thank god for making all this happen next they
would land a spot on the european leg of michael jackson's 1992 dangerous world tour as well as a
cameo appearance in the music video for his hit single jam additionally they made appearances
in music videos for several other artists such as run dmcs down with the king and tlc's hat to the
back they also popped up on the small screen as featured guests in an episode of the nbc sitcom a
different world as well as the closing musical act on an episode of sketch comedy series in living
color they made their big screen debut with a cameo appearance in the 1993 thriller comedy film
who's the man at this time kid groups across many different musical genres were extremely popular
this made for some stiff competition and ruffled feathers among the camps another bad creation
also from atl had made their mark on the music scene a couple of years prior to crisscross the
second crisscross's single jump dropped the beef was on at the beginning of the song a
small snippet of abc's hit song playground can be heard before a loud record scratch disturbs the
flow only to be replaced by jumpspeed the intro on crisscross's debut album made further mention
of their feelings towards their competition well y'all can't look like chris abc to me
abc that's another bad idea buddy that's another one of your boys i feel about being how y'all
feel when people ask y'all do y'all look like abs y'all literally if you really want to know
how we feel you just roll onto that next song hit me one jump all we're gonna do is get in
what started it all seemingly had a lot to do with germain dupree he was actually involved with abc
at the very beginning of their career and helped them to choreograph a couple of routines he was
all set to take it a step further and contribute on the producing end for their debut album
but things didn't work out that way and offended and resentful germaine then moved on to chris
cross kelly and smith also had issues with a couple of other groups hip-hop duo illegal and
hip-hop trio de youngstas all parties traded diss lyrics back and forth on each other's respective
albums criss-cross's second album titled the bomb dropped in the summer of 93. it did go platinum
but didn't do as well as their debut it produced the singles i'm real and de bomb featuring rapper
de brat who chris cross actually discovered after she won the grand prize which was meeting them in
a local rap contest the album's lead single called alright featuring super cat became a top 20 hit
three years later a third album titled young rich and dangerous was released again sales went down
and the project only achieved gold status the singles tonight's the night another top 20 hit
and live and die for hip-hop would be the last time fans would hear from the duo for
many years between 2000 to 2001 the duo did record over two dozen tracks for a fourth album
but it was never released kelly then tried his hand at a solo career and launched his debut album
in 2003. it went largely unnoticed since it could only be purchased exclusively on his website a
lengthy hiatus from the spotlight followed during which both men focused on education and business
ventures kelly studied studio engineering and founded his own record label smith concentrated
on marketing and business management as well as forming his own entertainment company in 2009
atlanta-based urban entertainment blogs straight from the a did an interview with kelly at the time
there were numerous rumors flying around that he was possibly suffering from cancer after photos
of him with ball patches on his head surfaced he confirmed that he was not ill and the reason for
his hair loss was due to the autoimmune disorder alopecia eagle eye fans would know this was an
issue he was dealing with even at the height of chris cross's popularity crisscross's last
performance was in their hometown of atlanta for record label so so devs 20th anniversary concert
in early 2013. undoubtedly some people assume that the one-off performance could be the catalyst to
an official comeback however it was interesting to see even from a fashion standpoint the differences
in the direction each man's life had gone in after all these years kelly still continued to wear his
pants backwards while smith had moved on and chose to rock his the old-fashioned way then that spring
on april 29th 2013 chris kelly was found unconscious in his atlanta home and taken
to a local hospital he died two days later he was 34 years old his death also came just hours
after he recorded a video of himself in his home rapping while slurring his words and obviously
looking inebriated the following day jermaine dupree tweeted about kelly's passing he referred
to him as the son he never had and praised him as an artist numerous other artists and fans
also publicly acknowledged his death a couple of months later a toxicology report was released
stating that the cause of death was a drug overdose it showed that kelly had a mixture of
drugs in his system including heroin and cocaine his issues with drugs and alcohol were well known
to those around him he was encouraged to seek professional help but refused during the duo's
peak in the 90s crisscross managed to stay pretty drama and scandal-free in the public however
that's not to say that there weren't any shocking events going on behind closed doors
in the last quarter of 2013 the vh1 documentary crazy sexy cool the tlc story aired dj nabs who
dj'd for crisscross on tour and became especially close to kelly took the moment to issue a very
interesting tweet about kelly and tlc member chile the tweet implied that the two had a relationship
when he was under age and she definitely was not kelly's mother also spoke out in an interview
of her own the following year she too seemed to imply that her son as a child was encouraged or
pressured into having a variety of inappropriate and not to mention illegal experiences with adults
oh but it doesn't end there many years later still the same sentiments would again be echoed
by rapper daz dillinger in an interview he did in late 2020 he claimed that actress jada pinkett
smith allegedly had a previous entanglement to the one she had with august alcina with chris kelly
in 1993 at the time that would have made him 14 or 15 and her 21 or 22.
smith made a go of a solo career in 2014 when he released a couple of singles on itunes
he also mentioned at the time that he was working on an album however nothing ever came out
also that year in an interview with double xl magazine he opened up about how raw his
emotions were when he first heard the news about the passing of his best friend i just locked
myself away and i didn't want to be around anybody i tried to absorb it the best i could i never lost
anybody that close to me in my life somebody that every day of your life we were brothers
in 2018 jermaine dupris spoke with hip-hop radio station power 106 in los angeles about his desire
to put together a documentary on chris cross his motivation for doing it is to tell the parts of
their story that got glossed over because of their meteoric rise to fame he also reminded listeners
that even though outcast is often the name that comes to mind when people think of the first
successful hip-hop group to come out of atlanta chris cross in fact actually has that honor
since day one smith has always been the quieter more low-key one of the
duo hence there really hasn't been much news about what he's been up to over the years
today it appears that music has taken a back seat to another focus his lifestyle label called urbane
muse that meshes his passions for art fashion and music together launched after kelly's passing
products include women's and men's clothing footwear accessories and curated art prints for
purchase the collections and designs are crafted from sketch works by smith himself
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