Cultural Analysis: KRS-One

Jayde Bateman-Scott
Music 211-01
Thomas Taylor
April 20, 2015
Cultural Analysis Essay
KRS-One is one of the most influential artists and producers in Hip-Hop and is also considered a pioneer (encyclopedia). He has released many albums and appeared in a lot of documentaries that explain what hip hop is and give the history of where Hip hop began. His dope beats and vivid rhymes have reached across a worldwide audience in a matter of years. He has been credited with a lot of firsts in the hip hop culture. While he rapped about the reality of living in the ghetto, he also makes an effort to enhance the consciousness of the listeners that came from the same background as him as well as others that were more privileged. KRS-One has lived through

adversity from the loss of a close friend, prison, being homeless, beefs, and controversy and he was able to overcome all obstacles while also influencing hip hop.
As a young child, Lawrence Parker was always into education and learning new things due to his mom.

As he got older he would go to block parties around the neighborhood and he was able to experience the four elements of hip hop; break dancing, MCing, graffiti, and DJing. He was spray painting his name KRS around town and added the one at the end because that’s what most graffiti artists did at the time, it was an added tag. The one signified being the first or the original. In 1977, he was inspired to become a MC because he was influenced by the music collection his mother bought. He worked on his writing with his brother and friends from school. He ran away and became homeless taking weird jobs and hanging out around the homeless shelters. He started teaching himself about the world and became interested in Hare Krishna. At the age of 19 he was arrested and served time for selling

marijuana.
After he was released he met Scott Sterling and at the time he was a social worker and a DJ on the side that went by the name of Scott La Rock. They became very close and decided to form a group. They had two previous groups before but the groups disbanded and they finally became Boogie Down Productions. As the group shopped around their music they were turned down a lot. They went to Mr. Magic, a well known DJ, and tried to have him play their music but they were turned down. At the time a song came out called “The Bridge” and MC Shan from The Juice Crew was talking about the Queens bridge and KRS-One came back with a song called “South Bronx” coming back at him for thinking that hip hop started in Queens. When the club played “South Bronx” for the first time the crowd went crazy. The DJ couldn’t play anything other than that song and when he would try the crowd would sing the chorus over any other song. After that the “Bridge Wars” had began. MC Shan replied with “Kill that Noise” while KRS-One came back with “The Bridge is Over.” This beef is considered the first rap battle between artists and the first beef in hip hop which started the slippery slope between artists and how they came at each other (Beef Documentary).
The first album Boogie Down Productions created was “Criminal Minded” and that was also considered the first album to incorporate gangsta and hardcore rap. On the cover KRS-One and Scott La Rock were covered in ammunition and holding guns. It has been called the first of its kind, the new east coast gangsta rap that came to life in the following years. Now, gangsta rap is very prevalent and most rappers that come out are considered gangsta rappers which show that KRS-One influence from the late 80’s is being used today. Not only did the album become the first for gangsta rap but KRS-One was the first to use the dancehall reggae in his songs called Zung gu Zung. His most popular song to incorporate the use of Jamaican music is called “Remix for P is Free.” He is credited as one of the more influential artists to bridge the gap between Jamaican music and hip hop in America.
In 1987, his fellow group member and good friend Scott La Rock was shot and killed trying to stop an argument between two people. KRS-One was determined to continue making music and he released By All Means Necessary in 1987 with the help of D-Nice, Ms. Melodie, his younger brother DJ Kenny Parker. After the death of Scott La Rock, KRS-One would change the content of his music from the violent themes of Criminal Minded to more political thoughts under the name “The Teacha”. Allmusic.com claimed the “album as a landmark of political hip hop.” The album is seen as one the first politically conscious efforts in hip hop. He goes over social issues in the black community that include corruption in government and the police force, safe sex, the drug trade and violence especially in the hip hop community. In 1989, KRS-One decided to respond to the violence in hip hop and black communities by creating The Stop the Violence Movement. He wanted to show everyone that hip hop can go back to its original principles of having fun and caring about the music. KRS-One and other popular artists from the east coast released a single called “Self Destruction.” The stars that worked on the single were Heavy D, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh and others. All the proceeds went to the National Urban League. In 2008, 2009, and 2011 there were newer versions to express the original feelings that KRS-One had in the 80’s.
After six albums under Boogie Down Productions he went solo and made many more albums like Return of the Boom Bap, KRS-One, I Got Next and others. He created a management company called Front Page Entertainment which helped the careers of Fat Joe and Wyclef.
KRS-One has written many books about his feelings towards hip hop, what needs to be done in the black community to make it better and his thoughts of hip hop as a religion.

He wrote The Gospel of Hip Hop in the same format as the bible for his readers that claim hip hop as their life path and culture. Not only has he worked with The Zulu Nation and Afrika Bambaataa he has created The Temple of Hip Hop in 1996. The main goal is to promote and maintain hip hop culture. It has been accepted as a religion by the United Nations. There is a hip hop appreciation week every third week of May so MCs and DJs can teach listeners about hip hop and encourage artists to write hip hop songs that are socially conscious since there have been a lot events happening in the black

community.
KRS-One has deeply influenced hip hop from having many firsts in the culture and also changing the course that hip hop has taken over the years. Without him I don’t think hip hop would be so conscious and artists today wouldn’t stand up for what they believe in rather than rapping about girls and money. He created the “I Am Hip Hop” philosophy, he says “Rap is something you DO, Hip Hop is something you Live! Therefore, if you live hip hop, then you can say “I am Hip Hop.”

Works Cited
Glickman, Simon; Henderson, Ashyia. "KRS-One 1965–." Contemporary Black Biography. 2002.Encyclopedia.com. 23 Apr. 2015 .
DeCurtis, Anthony (1988-10-06). "Boogie Down Productions: By All Means Necessary : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
The Stop The Violence Movement - "Self Destruction",discogs.com.
Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 94. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.