KRS-One, originally a member of the hip hop crew Boogie Down Productions, is known for setting the path for both hardcore rap and socially conscious political rap.
Youth and early career
Born Lawrence Parker in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1965, the future KRS-One grew up with his brother Kenny and their single mother in assorted inner city neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the Bronx. According to interviews with The Source Magazine, one fateful day when he was 12 years old, he and his brother Kenny prepared a pan of flavored rice, which was to be the family's dinner for the evening. The hungry pair ate the whole thing, and when their mother came home from work, she kicked them out of the apartment in a fit of anger. They stayed away for two days before younger Kenny decided to go back home, while Lawrence opted not to return. He spent the better part of the next seven years homeless, much of it at local libraries.
In his late teen years, Lawrence Parker fell in with some illegal drug dealers and became a courier. Using a bread delivery truck as a cover, Parker and his partner drove around town to make drops. During one of their trips, a police car pulled up behind them with flashing lights. Parker's partner panicked, and led the cops on a chase for several miles which ended with the truck crashing and the two being apprehended. At the trial, the judge made the commentary that the only reason the police had initially tried to pull them over was because they had private plates on a commercial vehicle, there was no original intent to search for drugs.
Parker, still a minor, claimed he was a ward of the state, and got sent to a juvenile home for his sentencing, after which he was moved to a Covenant House youth homeless shelter. It was there that he met Scott Sterling, a recent college graduate who just started working at the shelter as a social worker. Parker discovered that Sterling moonlighted as a hip hop DJ under the name Scott La Rock. By this time, Parker had earned the nickname "Kris" from the relationship he had developed with local Hare Krishnas that evangelized near the shelter. Heavily influenced by Eastern philosophies, he was also an aspiring rapper, and practiced routines in verbal spars with the other shelter residents.
Parker and Sterling, along with two other fellows, decided to form a rap group together, initially calling themselves "Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three". That was short-lived, however, as the two peripheral members quit, leaving Parker (now calling himself KRS-One) and Sterling. They then decided to call themselves "Boogie Down Productions". Success is the Word, a 12-inch single release on indie Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records (under the group name "12:41") did not enjoy commercial success. Soon after, the pair approached another NY indie, Rock Candy Productions, for a deal. As it turns out, the entertainment company was allegedly a front for a pornography operation, but Parker and Sterling convinced the boss to front them the money to record an album, under the newly created subsidiary label, B-Boy Records. After a few 12-inch single releases, the Criminal Minded album finally surfaced in 1987.
Criminal Minded featured many dis tracks that attacked other hip hop emcees and tracks about street crime ("wa da da deng wa da da da deng, listen to my nine millimeter go bang"). KRS One and La Rock appeared on the cover of the album holding firearms, a controversial precedent that would be followed by many rap artists in the years to follow. Musically, the album was based around James Brown samples and reggae influences. They also sampled hard-rock band AC/DC on "Dope Beat". During these years, KRS-One was also famously involved in a hip hop battle with MC Shan, of Queensbridge. KRS objected to MC Shan calling Queensbridge the home of hip hop, and attacked him viciously on a seminal battle rap, The Bridge Is Over.
Later career and emphasis on political issues
Following the fatal shooting of Scott La Rock in 1987, Boogie Down Productions (BDP) became increasingly political. KRS One was the primary motivation behind the HEAL compilation and the Stop the Violence Movement. KRS One attracted many prominent emcees to appear on the 12-inch single "Self Destruction." As Parker adopted this more conscientious, less violent approach, he stopped calling himself "The Blastmaster" (his battle rap nickname), and instead began calling himself "The Teacha", turning the nickname KRS-ONE into the backronym "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone".
On his first solo album, 1993's Return of the Boombap, KRS worked together with producers DJ Premier (Gang Starr), Showbiz and Kid Capri. The catchy yet very hardcore track "Sound of da Police" is featured on this album. His second album, KRS One featured Channel Live on the track "Free Mumia", a political protest song about Mumia Abu-Jamal, an imprisoned African-American and Black Panther member who a vocal group of activists on the political Left claim is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. Other prominent guest artists on KRS One included Mad Lion, Busta Rhymes, Das EFX and Fat Joe.
In 1997, Parker surprised many with his release of the album I Got Next. The record included a remix of the single "Step into a World" which featured a sample from the 1970s rock group Blondie by commercial rap icon Puff Daddy. "Heartbeat", featuring Angie Martinez and Redman, was based on the old school classic "Feel the Heartbeat" by the Treacherous Three. These collaborations with notably mainstream artists took many fans and observers of the vehemently anti-mainstream KRS One by surprise. However, in August 1997 KRS One appeared on Tim Westwood's BBC Radio 1 show and vociferously denounced the DJ and the radio station more generally, accusing them of ignoring his style of hip-hop in favour of commercial artists such as Puff Daddy.
In 1999, there were tentative plans to release an album called "Maximum Strength"; a lead single, "5 Boroughs", was released on The Corruptor movie soundtrack. However, KRS apparently decided to abort the album's planned release, just as he had secured a position as a Vice-President of A&R at Reprise Records. KRS moved to southern California, and stayed there for two years, finally ending his relationship with Jive Records with A Retrospective in 2000. The next year, he resigned his position at Reprise and in 2001 The Sneak Attack was released on Koch Records. In 2002, he released a gospel-rap album, Spiritual Minded, surprising many longtime fans. Parker had once denounced Christianity as a "slavemaster religion" which African-Americans should not follow. He founded the Temple of Hiphop, and released a new album, Kristyles, in mid- 2003, which was preceded by KRS-One: The Mixtape. In the summer of 2004 he released Keep Right.
KRS One's latest CD Life, was released in June 2006, and another CD, Adventures in Emceein on Koch Records is slated for later in the year. KRS has also confirmed for his next album of new material, expected to be out in 2007, he will be working with Marley Marl.
September 11 comments and ensuing controversy
In 2004, KRS engendered a controversy when he was quoted in a panel discussion hosted by New Yorker Magazine as saying that Blacks "cheered when 911 happened". The comment drew criticism from many sources, including a pointed barb by the New York Daily News that called Parker an "anarchist" and said that "If Osama bin Laden ever buys a rap album, he'll probably start with a CD by KRS-One."
Parker responded to the furor surrounding his comments with an editorial written for AllHipHop.com. In it, Parker said "I was asked about why hiphop has not engaged the current situation more (meaning 911), my response was 'because it does not affect us, or at least we donโt perceive that it affects us, 911 happened to them'. I went on to say that 'I am speaking for the culture now; I am not speaking my personal opinion.' I continued to say; '911 affected them down the block; the rich, the powerful those that are oppressing us as a culture. Sony, RCA or BMG, Universal, the radio stations, Clear Channel, Viacom with BET and MTV, those are our oppressors those are the people that we're trying to overcome in hiphop everyday, this is a daily thing. We cheered when 911 happened in New York and say that proudly here. Because when we were down at the trade center we were getting hit over the head by cops, told that we canโt come in this building, hustled down to the train station because of the way we dressed and talked, and so on, we were racially profiled. So, when the planes hit the building we were like, 'mmmm, justice'. And just as I began to say 'now of course a lot of our friends and family were lost there as well' but I was interrupted..."
Ah-Yeah
KRS-One Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown
Ah yeah, stay alive all things will change around
Ah yeah, what? Ah yeah
So here I go kickin' science in ninety-five
I be illin', parental discretion is advised still
Don't call me nigga, this MC goes for his
Roamin' through the forest as the hardest lyrical artist
Black women you are not a bitch you're a Goddess
Let it be known, you can lean on KRS-One
Like a wall cause I'm hard, I represent GOD
Wack MC's have only one style gun buck
But when you say, "Let's buck for revolution"
They shut the fuck up, kid, get with it
Down to start a riot in a minute
You'll hear so many Bowe-Bowe-Bowe, you think I'm Riddick
While other MC's are talkin' bout up with hope down with dope
I'll have a devil in my infrared scope, woi
That's for calling my father a boy and, KLAK KLAK KLAK
That's for putting scars on my mother's back, BO
That's for calling my sister a hoe, and for you
Buck BUCK BUCK, cause I don't give a motherfuck
Remember the whip, remember the chant, remember about rope and
You black people still thinkin' about vot-ing
Every president we ever had lied
You know I'm kinda glad Nixon died
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you see a devil down
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown
Ah yeah, stay alive all things will change around
Ah yeah, what? Ah yeah
This is not the first time I came to the planet
But every time I come, only a few could understand it
I came as Isis, my words they tried to ban it
I came as Moses, they couldn't follow my commandments
I came as Solomon, to a people that was lost
I came as Jesus, but they nailed me to a cross
I came as Harriet Tubman, I put the truth to Sojourner
Other times, I had to come as Nat Turner
They tried to burn me, lynch me and starve me
So I had to come back as Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley
They tried to harm me, I used to be Malcolm X
Now I'm on the planet as the one called KRS
Kickin the metaphysical, spiritual, tryin to like
Get wit you, showin you, you are invincible
The Black Panther is the black answer for real
In my spiritual form, I turn into Bobby Seale
On the wheels of steel, my spirit flies away
And enters into Kwame Ture
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you see a devil down
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown
Ah yeah, stay alive all things will change around
Ah yeah, what? Ah yeah
In the streets there is no EQ, no di-do-di-do-di-do
So I grab the air and speak through the code
The devil cannot see through as I unload
Into another cerebellum
Then I can tell 'em, because my vibes go through denim
And leather whatever, however, I'm still rockin'
We used to pick cotton, now we pick up cotton when we shoppin'
Have you forgotten why we buildin' in a cypher
Yo hear me kid, government is building in a pyramid
The son of God is brighter than the son of man
The spirit is, check your dollar bill G, here it is
We got no time for fancy mathematics
Your mental frequency frequently pickin' up static
Makin you a naked body, attic and it's democratic
They press auto, and you kill it with an automatic
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you see a devil down
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown
Ah yeah, stay alive all things will change around
Ah yeah, what? Ah yeah
"Ah yeah," you know KRS-One will crush a duck
The lyrics to KRS-One's song Ah-Yeah are powerful and thought-provoking. The first verse begins with the lines, "Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you see a devil down. Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown." This is a call to action for those who witness injustice and oppression to stand up against it, to not let the devil hold power over them. The following lines encourage the listener to stay alive and have faith that change will come. The repetition of "Ah yeah" throughout the song serves as a rallying cry, a reminder to stay strong and keep fighting.
The second verse continues with KRS-One's signature style of kicking science, or delivering knowledge and insight through his lyrics. He proclaims that he is an ill MC but also cautions parental discretion. He rejects being called the racial epithet often used against Black people and instead demands to be called God, asserting the inherent divinity of Black people. KRS-One then goes on to uplift Black women, declaring that they are not bitches but instead are goddesses. He offers himself as a source of support, stating that people can lean on him because he is hard, representing God.
Ah-Yeah is a powerful song that addresses themes of oppression, Black empowerment, and standing up for what is right. It calls on listeners to be vigilant and to fight against injustice, while also celebrating the resilience and divinity of Black people.
Line by Line Meaning
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you see a devil down
Expressing satisfaction that an enemy has been defeated or brought low.
Ah yeah, that's whatcha say when you take the devil's crown
Expressing triumph over an opponent or obstacle.
Ah yeah, stay alive all things will change around
Encouraging perseverance in difficult times with the belief that circumstances will improve.
Ah yeah, what? Ah yeah!
An exclamation of confidence and excitement.
So here I go kickin science in ninety-five
Beginning a new era of rap music that emphasizes knowledge and social commentary.
I be illin, parental discretion is advised still
Warning listeners of explicit language and content.
Don't call me nigga, this MC goes for his
Demanding respect and recognition as a skilled rapper.
Call me God, cause that's what the black man is
Challenging societal views on race and elevating Black identity to a higher level.
Roamin through the forest as the hardest lyrical artist
Navigating the rap genre with confidence and skill as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Black women you are not a bitch you're a Goddess
Affirming the beauty and worth of Black women and rejecting harmful language and attitudes towards them.
Let it be known, you can lean on KRS-One
Assuring listeners of support and reliability from the artist.
Like a wall cause I'm hard, I represent GOD
Comparing himself to an immovable object and affirming his connection to a higher power.
Wack MC's have only one style: gun buck
Criticizing the lack of depth and creativity in certain rappers' styles.
But when you say,
Introducing a hypothetical situation.
Lyrics ยฉ Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Lawrence Krsone Parker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@UNKNOWN-tx3mq
Dad: turn it off!!!
Me: Why?
Dad: we have bigger speakers downstairs!
@REAL33ism
One of the greatest songs ever produced!!!
@fugyaself2133
"They tried to lynch me, burn me and starve me. So I had to come back as Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley"
- The Vedic Hindu Scrolls
@GuillermoCorriz-eo7iy
I first heard this album in 95 i was rhe only one in nEw mexico bumpin it no cap, im still rockin it today ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ
@BrotherNkosi
Love it. II am a few days for 62 and I Still love it.
@savagelychill2858
It's crazy cuz the brothers who need to hear this aint even up on this. We need Real Hip Hop Back! This generation is lost!
@charlenewilliams9476
I sgree.
@moebee3837
๐ฏ๐ฏ๐๐พ
@evelynprice2753
Right!๐ค๐ถ๐
@alanashford9207
Heard this age 14....I gotta teach a hip-hop 101-102 class...I gotta introduce this to some youth bumpn' lil ' what ever kid name is...we have to straighten the focus of our youth..