Chris Kelly, best known as one half of the famed kid rap duo, Kris Kross, was found dead Wednesday afternoon of an apparent drug overdose.
Kelly, known as “Mac Daddy” and Chris Smith, known as “Daddy Mac,” catapulted to stardom with their rap hit, “Jump,” which was written by rapper/music producer Jermaine Dupri, who discovered the pair in an Atlanta mall. Their debut 1992 album, Totally Krossed Out went multiplatinum and the boys were famous for sporting their clothes inside out.
Yet, the duo never achieved the same kind of success following their debut and faded from the limelight soon after.
In 2009, after photos surfaced that showed Kelly with bald spots on his head and rumors began to circulate that he had cancer. In response to the rumors, in an interview posted on YouTube, he said he suffered from alopecia, a condition in which people lose their hair.
Kelly died at an Atlanta hospital of an apparent drug overdose at his home. Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said Kelly was pronounced dead at the hospital at around 5 p.m. Wednesday. No official cause of death has been determined, pending an autopsy, as per USA Today
Earlier this year, Smith and Kelly performed together in Atlanta to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dupri's label, So So Def, notes ABC News
"He actually was still working on music and recording," said Yahoo music writer Billy Johnson Jr., who interviewed Kelly in February.
"He said he had several hundred songs that he had recorded and he had mentioned that during his time away from releasing music that he had actually gone back to school to learn how to be a studio engineer," Johnson said, according to ABC News Radio.
Kelly was 34 years old.