KRS-One is widely considered “hip-hop royalty.” He was born Lawrence “Kris” Parker.

The rapper grew up on the tough streets of the Bronx and fell in love with rap music from the moment he heard it. The rhythms and the rhymes transformed his life once he hit the music scene in the mid-1980s.

Known as the ‘teacha,” he started his career with Boogie Down Productions and gained respect as a socially conscious rapper—speaking truth to power.

What You Need To Know

  • Lawrence "Kris" Parker, better known by his stage names KRS-One and Teacha, is an American rapper from the South Bronx

  • KRS-One is hosting a festival in honor of Hip-hop's 50th Anniversary and inviting some of his famous friends. The festival will be at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop

  • He rose to prominence as part of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions, which he formed with DJ Scott La Rock in the mid-1980s

  • KRS-One prides himself on being an historian and ambassador for hip-hop. He is known as the 'teacha' and protector of hip-hop culture and steers it away from commercialism

The rapper was recently invited to City Hall to join the self-proclaimed “Hip-Hop Mayor Eric Adams” to launch a series of free concerts throughout the city.

“Hip-hop is a success story. The legacy that hip-hop holds is that first you can do anything with your mind. That’s the first thing. Second thing is that you can overcome anything with perseverance,” he said.

And the entertainers know a thing or two about perseverance. During his childhood, he experienced homelessness, but hip-hop culture gave his life new meaning.

“We started in poverty. Most of us come out of single-parent households. Our mothers raised us. It was New York [in] the 70s,” he said. “We went from Harlem to Brooklyn to the Bronx, back to Brooklyn. We was all over New York but miraculously one of the places we were staying at was 1600 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.”

This happened to be next door to the building where DJ Kool Herc held his first party 50 years ago this week on Aug. 11, 1973 and on Saturday, Aug. 12, KRS-ONE is hosting a major event of his own to honor the milestone.

He is going to shut down this busy strip along 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx for the ultimate hip-hop festival.

The legend gave us an exclusive tour of the community center where DJ Kool Herc made history.

“This is where DJ Kool Herc started the culture right here. The turntables were right here, and he was right here in this corner going this way,” he said.

Saturday’s free event will be a homecoming for hip-hop culture with DJ’s, MC’s breakdancers. All the elements of the music genre will be represented to celebrate a cultural movement led by a rapper beloved as “The Blastmaster”