Hip Hop 50 Celebrates: KRS-One

During this time that is Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary there is another birthday worth mentioning in its wake. Today is the birthday of one of Hip Hop’s greatest teachers to ever pick up a microphone, KRS-One. He is not only one of Hip Hop’s earliest trailblazers l, but also one of its most pivotal revolutionaries.

Born Lawrence Parker in New York City, 1965, Lawrence had a turbulent childhood. As a child he lived with his mother and his abusive stepfather. At the age of 16 he left his parents house and went to live in a group home after being homeless for a short time. It was during this time of his life that Hip Hop found him and forged his future. He started rapping as an emcee and was also a graffiti artist.

It was also during this time that Lawrence gave himself the Hip Hop stage name KRS-One, which is an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone.. street life and consciousness in the Black community is what KRS-One wanted as the focal points of his lyricism as a rapper. As Hip Hop was taking its shape in Parker’s life he soon formed a friendship with group home youth counselor Scott Sterling, who was also active in Hip Hop culture as a DJ named Scott-Larock. KRS and Larock would eventually join forces with fellow DJ and rapper, Derrick T. Jones also known as D-Nice and created a group they called Boogie Down Productions or BDP.

Boogie Down Productions first rose to prominence after being rejected by Hip Hop veteran Marley Marl when he ignored their debut album Criminal Minded (1987). The group then engaged in a high profile fued with the Hip Hop crew known as the Juice Crew, who were protégés of Marley Marl. KRS, who was a native of the South Bronx, where Hip Hop was first born took offense a song titled “The Bridge” from the Juice Crew, which KRS interpreted as a claim that Hip Hop started in Queensbridge, New York and not the Bronx. This led to the formation of two of the most iconic battle records in Hip Hop history, “The South Bronx” and “The Bridge is Over”.

“Many people tell me this style is terrific

It is kinda different but let's get specific

KRS-One specialize in music

I'll only use this type of style when I choose it

Party people in the place to be, KRS-One attack

Ya got dropped off MCA cause the rhymes you wrote was wack

So you think that hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge

If you pop that junk up in the Bronx you might not live

Cause you're in” - KRS-One (The South Bronx).

In light of the Highly publicized “Bridge Wars” and with the success of “The South Bronx” and “The Bridge is Over”, Criminal minded was a hit and credited for being one of the earliest inspirations of gangsta rap, but tragedy would soon strike BDP. Following the successful release of Criminal Minded, Scott La-Rock was fatally shot after attempting to mediate a fight. Though his death was a tremendous loss, KRS-One was determined to keep BDP alive. He was successful in doing so with the three hit albums: By All Means Necessary (1988), Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop, and Edutainment (1990).

It was during this time that KRS-One created the Stop the Violence Movement in the aftermath of Scott La-Rock’s death. Many of Hip Hop’s big names in Hip Hop supported the movement. For the rest of the 90s and into the early 2000’s KRS-One enjoyed a successful solo career and continued to be one of Hip Hop’s most outspoken voices. He is one of the evolutionaries of lyricism and has spent his life defending the legacy of Hip Hop and its pioneers. Happy birthday to pioneer Blastmaster KRS-One, we celebrate him on Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary.

“That's what I'm smackin you with cause it's easy

Like Lionel Richie, your whole style is b*tchy

Switch me, mix me, somebody get me

Don't let me rip out my clothes like Bill Bixby

Rippin the microphone 'til I'm sixty

Smokin the indo, by the window, it's sticky.” - KRS-One (Mad Iz).