Background and career
Lawrence Kris Parker (born August 20, 1965), known professionally as KRS-One (), is an American rapper from New York City. Parker initially rose to prominence in the mid 1980s as a founding member of the hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions, which he formed alongside DJ Scott La Rock. Following the release of their debut album, Criminal Minded (1987), Scott was killed, leaving Parker to continue the group largely as a solo endeavor. During its early years, Boogie Down Productions earned widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades and was seen as an innovator in conscious hip-hop. After Boogie Down Productions disbanded in the early 1990s, KRS-One embarked on a solo career, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1993. His third solo album, I Got Next (1997), featured his best-known single, "Step into a World (Rapture's Delight)". Although Parker has continued to release albums since, his later work has not achieved the same level of success as his earlier releases.
Lawrence Kris Parker was born on August 20, 1965 in the neighborhood of Park Slope, in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Jacqueline Jones, worked as a secretary, while his father, Sheffield Brown, a handyman of Caribbean descent, was deported when Parker was an infant. His younger brother, Kenny, was born in 1966. The family moved to Harlem in 1969, with his mother remarrying in 1970, first to John Parker, a Jamaican man who she "married for his name" and divorced a year later, before being married to Charles Headley, who she had a daughter with, for a few years. The Parker children attended elementary school in Harlem; their mother, with her master's degree in education, also taught them about theology and African culture. Parker was introduced to hip-hop through his mother's collection of records, which included albums by the Treacherous Three and Grandmaster Flash. At the age of thirteen, he left school and became a truant, later leaving home due to his mother disapproving of his choices.
During the day, he read on philosophy and religion at a library, and at night, he practiced rapping at the homeless shelters he stayed at. While staying there, he was dubbed "Krisna" by the residents due to his interest towards the Hare Krishna spirituality. He was also a graffiti artist, signing his name as KRS-ONE. At seventeen, Parker passed the General Educational Development tests. He ended up at the Franklin Avenue Armory Shelter, where he met a social worker named Scott Monroe Sterling, who had been working as a DJ under the stage name Scott La Rock.
1984–1986: Initial recordings, founding of Boogie Down Productions, and the Bridge Wars In 1984, he and Scott La Rock, alongside Just-Ice and D-Nice, founded a rap group called Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three. Through Zakia Records, they released an single, "Advance", that discussed the prevention of nuclear war. The group soon split due to internal conflicts, and in 1985, Scott La Rock and Parker, under the name 12:41, contributed to a single, "Success is the Word". which was released by Sleeping Bag Records, Fresh Records, and Streetwave Records as the B-side to Just-Ice's "Put that Record Back On", but it didn't chart. After these failed attempts, Scott responded to an newspaper ad from Rock Candy Records and Filmworks looking for new musicians for their recently created division, B-Boy Records. In response, the two formed the group Boogie Down Productions, with D-Nice also serving a member of their crew. In 1986, they released their first single, "Crack Attack", under the label.
How KRS-One makes money
In 1986, they released their first single, "Crack Attack", under the label.
