9 Things You Didn’t Know About Chris ‘Mac Daddy’ Kelly

The rap world was left shocked and saddened when news broke about the death of Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly, one-half of the rap duo Kris Kross, late last night. Despite his short, yet pivotal success in the early ’90s, there’s surprisingly very little known about the man we used to refer to as Mac Daddy. Like what had he been doing all these years after Kris Kross? Was he battling cancer at some point in his life? How exactly did Jermaine Dupri discover him and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith? You can find the answers to all of these questions along with more interesting facts about the late Chris Kelly in our round up below.

1) Mall Discovery

Mega-producer Jermaine Dupri discovered Chris Kelly and his buddy Chris Smith at an Atlanta mall while the two were playing video games at the age of 13 years-old. The two had no idea who he was and at the time, but were keen on the idea of becoming rap stars.

2) Rap Skillz

Prior to being discovered, Kelly had never rapped a day in his life.

3) Digital Minded

Along with his partner Chris Smith, the two developed a video game titled “Kris Kross: Make My Video” for Sega, which went on to be ranked one of the 20 worst games of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly.

4) Hiatus

During his absence from the music industry, Kelly went back to school to learn how to be a studio engineer.

5) Record Label

Kelly started his own independent label called C.CO.Records and was said to have recorded hundreds of songs during his time out of the spotlight.

6) Hidden Talents

Despite Kelly’s rap roots, neighbors say the Kriss Kross rapper was very much into classical music and could often be heard playing the piano next door.

7) Health Issues

When images of a balding Kelly surfaced the net, most people believed the rapper was suffering from cancer. Kelly soon cleared up the rumors and stated the true culprit was alopecia, a skin condition that causes one to lose his hair.

8) Jumping the Charts

At the time of it’s run, Kris Kross’ 1992 hit “Jump” was the longest running No. 1 single since the Police’s eight-week run of “Every Breath You Take” in 1983.