#VitalFactz: Happy Birthday KRS-One

Happy Bornday KRS-One. Born Lawrence Parker August 20, 1965. Parker's pilgrimage towards becoming an MC started when he left home at 16 & was living in a homeless shelter in The South Bronx. It was there he me a Youth Counselor by the name of Scott Sterling. Lawrence was also writing graffiti as KRS-One (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone). Together he and Sterling, a.k.a. DJ Scott La Rock, created Boogie Down Productions, releasing their debut album, Criminal Minded, in 1987. You may remember his long feud with Juice Crew member MC Shan. In 1986, Shan released the single The Bridge, which KRS interpreted as him saying that Hip Hop started out in Queensbridge. This led to a slew of diss records going back & forth, starting with BDP's South Bronx. his most popular diss track was The Bridge Is Over. Sadly, during the recording of their follow-up album By All Means Necessary , Scott had gotten involved in an incident with fellow BDP member D-Nice, which resulted in him being fatally shot. Despite this tragedy, The Blastmaster soldiered on & finished the album (which was the first album to be released on their new record label Jive Records). The crew released 3 more albums (Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop, Edutainment, Sex & Violence) before embarking on a solo career. He released the highly acclaimed album Return Of The Boom Bap. The record was originally rated 4 mics in The Source in 1993. In 1995 he released his self-titled 2nd album. Then in 1997 he released I Got Next. This album would be his highest charting album as well as his biggest selling album, having reached Gold status. This would be his last album on a major record label as he would go independent. He has been releasing albums on the independent circuit ever since. To this day he is still touring & putting out conscious music.