Real name is Kris (Lawrence Krisna Parker)
Born in 1965 in Brooklyn
He was another example of people who were poor in the
projects but had a lot of ambition
He grew up in a household where his mom was rich in
spirituality and African history
Him and his siblings stayed in school and did well
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He dropped out of high school at 16 in 1981
Was homeless - slept in the park, on trains, in the public library
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When he was in the public library he did a lot of reading
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Became interested in the hip hop culture
Decided to do graffiti
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Used the name KRS-1
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First time he used the name
KRS-One is an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over
Nearly Everyone
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Nearly refers to God, not another man
At a young age he started writing his own raps
His interest was in political and battle rhyming in his early career
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Had experience in battling himself
At age 19 he went to jail for selling weed
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He got out in 1985 and met Scott La Rock Scott Sterling
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He was a DJ and producer for Boogie Down Productions
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Was also involved in a gang
Scott is a social worker who was working at a homeless
shelter in the Bronx
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He is a DJ with a job at a club called Broadway
International
They became friends and started putting out music and
working Mr. Magic so they could gain exposure
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Magic gave them a little support
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Their initial demo was rejected
KRS-One went back to the homeless shelter
He would create the legendary song called South Bronx
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South Bronx only existed because KRS-ONE heard MC Shan’s
claim that Queens invented rap
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That set a fire under him
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He was politically edged so he had to respond
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He was proud of where he came from and was upset with what
he hard on the radio
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Song was an answer to The Bridge
There was a feud media played it up putting the two sides against each other
Marley Marl was respected
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One of the first guys to have a crew
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MC Shan and Queens had a team of rappers
Boogie Down Productions had Red Alert and the other radio stationa on their side
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Kiss FM, Jungle Brothers, Chuck Chill-out, etc…
**BDP = Boogie Down Productions
The feud became BDP vs. Juice Crew
SONG: South Bronx
He was stimulated by the MC Shan song
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Told the same story took the arrangement and mocked him by telling the
real story
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A lot of reference to South Bronx stars like Flash and Bambaataa
Crack was a big thing in these times lots of effort to take it out of the black
community
Shan was made popular by this
Shan was making money and was respected at this time
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He responded to Boogie Down Productions which proved to be an error and
was the end of his career
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He came out with a song called Kill That Noise
It was a bad song
If he knew what opportunity he had he would have done a better job
Important to respond appropriately
The song didn’t dent the career of Boogie Down Productions, but
instead empowered them
KRS-One lives for excitement – not a good idea to piss him off
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