KRS-1 on SPOTTV
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Lawrence Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage name KRS-One is an American MC and producer. Over his career, he has been known by several pseudonyms including "Kris Parker," "The Blastmaster," "The Teacha," and "The Philosopher."[1] At the 2008 BET Awards, KRS-One was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for all his work and effort towards the Stop the Violence Movement as well as the overall pioneering of hip-hop music and culture.
Born Lawrence Parker in Park Slope, Brooklyn in the summer of 1965, the rapper left home at 14 to play basketball and read books free of the gaze of the authorities (his mother and the New York City public school system). He came to live in a homeless shelter in the South Bronx, where he was dubbed Krishna by residents because of his interest in the Hare Krishna spirituality of some of the antipoverty workers. By the time he met youth counselor Scott Sterling, he was also writing graffiti as KRS-One (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone). Together he and Sterling, a.k.a. DJ Scott La Rock eventually created Boogie Down Productions, releasing their landmark debut album, Criminal Minded, in 1987.
KRS-One has been a vegetarian since his youth.
In the summer of 1984, KRS-One hit the music scene with a rap group called "Scott La rock and the Celebrity Three" with a record called "Advance". And that was, in a time when most rappers rhymed about cars, jewelry, alcohol, and the latest dance, KRS-One was rhyming about nuclear war prevention. Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three was composed of Scott La Rock, Levi167, MC Quality, and KRS-One. After legal problems with the head of the label, Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three were released from their contract. In the winter of 1984, KRS-One wrote a song called "Stop The Violence" although by this time The Celebrity Three had broken up and only KRS-One and Scott La Rock remained. Both realized they had to change the name of the group and they did: the new group was called The Boogie Down Crew.
In 1985, Scott La Rock was asked to do an already written and produced record for Sleeping Bag Records. Of course Kris and Scott wanted to concentrate on their own Boogie Down Crew but first they had to go through this. For this project they were paid nothing and had no rights or claims to anything. It was this project that educated Kris and Scott as to the importance of being producers of their music, as well as the artists, so at this point they decided to change the name of their own Boogie Down Crew to Boogie Down Productions.
At the close of 1987, the B.D.P lifestyle got real and Scott La Rock was killed trying to break up a dispute in the Bronx. This shocked the hip hop communitity and as a result rap and violence became a topic in the mainstream press. The rap community thought Boogie Down Productions was over but this only led to new plans for KRS-One. In 1988, KRS-One left B. Boy Records to sign with Jive Records and "By All Means Necessary" was released. Rap music was under a mainstream microscope and KRS-One now was able to release what he and Scott always dreamed about, an album that gave rap a different image. His first video on Jive Records was for "My Philosophy", a song that re-established his presence in the rap world.
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