adminPolice were called to Kelly’s home late on Wednesday afternoon, soon after he was taken to Atlanta Medical Centre.
Kelly — one of the rap duo famous for the hit song “Jump” – was pronounced dead almost an hour later.
As yet there is no official confirmation of the cause of death but Cpl Kay Lester, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County police said: “It appears it may have been a possible drug overdose.’
An autopsy is due to be held this week.
Kelly, known as Mac Daddy, performed alongside Chris Smith, known as Daddy Mac, in the early and mid-90s.
The duo’s hit song “Jump”, from their 1992 debut album, “Totally Krossed Out”, helped propel them to stardom and sales of four million copies in the US, topping the Billboard charts for eight weeks.
Kris Kross was also noted for their hip-hop style and in particular wearing their clothes back to front.
The teen rap duo were discovered at age 13 an Atlanta mall in 1990 by then 18-year-old rising star Jermaine Dupri, who helped them to record the hit album.
In 1992, the talented pair landed a spot on Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” world tour, as well as a cameo appearance on his popular Jam music video.
Their own music video for “Jump” shot to number one on MTV and sold over 100 000 copies as a VHS video single.
Their second and third albums also went platinum and gold respectively, but didn’t achieve the success of their first album, due in part to the fact that the teenagers had hit puberty and were marketed with a tougher image.
A joint statement released on Wednesday by So So Def and Kelly’s mother, Donna Kelly Pratte, paid tribute to “kind, generous and fun-loving” star.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce that our beloved Chris Kelly has passed away on May 1.
“To millions of fans worldwide, he was the trend-setting, backward pants-wearing one-half of Kris Kross, who loved making music. But to us, he was just Chris — the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party.”
Though he was only with us a short time, we feel blessed to have been able to share some incredible moments with him.
His legacy will live on through his music.”
Atlanta radio host DJ Greg Street shared the news with listeners after receiving the devastating news from Kelly’s cousin.
“Around 7.45 I received a phone call from his cousin saying they had found Kelly at the house just 20 minutes earlier and he was unresponsive,” Street wrote.
“I just received confirmation that he has passed.”
Twitter erupted as condolences flooded in from celebrities and friends. Rapper and actor LL Cool J dedicated a song to the departed rapper, tweeting “R.I.P Chris Kelly. This song is now officially dedicated to you. May GOD embrace your soul & lift up your family”.
Actress Alyssa Milano was also quick to pay her respects to Kelly’s memory tweeting “Rest in peace. Chris Kelly #KrisKross #jumpjump”.
Kelly and Smith had reunited once more to star at a 20th anniversary all-star concert honouring So So Def Recordings in Atlanta in February.
“Me and him, we have our times when we don’t talk and our times that we do talk,” Kelly told Yahoo Music when asked about his friendship with fellow rapping partner Smith shortly before their reunion.
“But if it’s any time that I needed him or needed to reach him it was never a problem.”
Kelly had also been broadening his talents, going to back to school to become a musical engineer.
“I just wanted to do something different,” he said.
“Get more on the technical side of things than just being an artiste, and produce.
“I just wanted to be the all around best I could be as far as doing everything.” — Daily Mail.
Online Reporter