Kris Kross is the reason I rap. Easily. I don’t know too many people in my age range that CAN’T cite them as a major influence. They were just a little older than me and I and my friends idolized them. I had posters in my room, cassettes in my little boombox and I’m positive my career was birthed in the bathroom mirror trying to lock down the Miggedy-Miggedy-Mac Daddy/Dax EFX flow. EVERY kid in our grade school was a rapper after Kris Kross came out. I wore my clothes backwards, too. I’m sure of it. I’m sure anyone older than me thought they were a gimmick (they were), but the trick with Kris Kross is that they could rap their asses off. And shit, people discount “The Bomb” as a flop, as they may have been aping the west coast hard, but that album, for better or for worse, is a big reason I hopped into the Snoop, Dre & G-Funk Universe. “The Bomb”-era Kriss Kross, Da Brat & SoSoDef were the kid-safe Death Row that led me proudly over to the dark side with the quickness (I still have my ‘sneak-around-my-parents’ Maxell tape of “Doggystyle”). But anyway…
