Kris Kross star dead: Chris Kelly suffers apparent drug overdose

Chris Kelly, half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who made one of the decade’s most memorable songs with the frenetic Jump, died at an Atlanta hospital on Wednesday of an apparent drug overdose at his home, authorities said. He was 34.

“It appears it may have been a possible drug overdose,” said Kay Lester, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County police.

According to Lester, this was deduced based on statements received at the scene as well as evidence turned up at Kelly’s home in south Atlanta. The police were called to Kelly’s home at around 4.30pm local time Wednesday and he was taken to the south campus of the Atlanta Medical Centre, where he was declared dead around 5pm.

No official cause of death has been determined, pending an autopsy.

Kelly, known as “Mac Daddy,” and Chris Smith, known as “Daddy Mac,” were introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri after he discovered the pair in an Atlanta mall. The duo wore their clothes backwards as a gimmick, but won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was Jump was from their multiplatinum 1992 debut album Totally Krossed Out, that featured the two trading verses and rapping the refrain, the song’s title. The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. Their success led to instant fame: They toured with Michael Jackson, appeared on TV shows, and even had their own video game.

The group was never able to match the tremendous success of their first song, though they had other hits like Warm It Up, and Tonite’s tha Night.

In 2009, after photos surfaced that showed him with bald spots on his head, there were rumours that he had cancer. But in an interview posted on YouTube by Straight from the A TV, he said he suffered from alopecia, a condition in which people lose their hair.

“My health is good, I just got alopecia, I don’t have cancer, not other sort of diseases,” he said.

Earlier this year, the group performed together to celebrate the anniversary of Durpri’s label, So So Def.