The Kriss Kross Dilemma: How To Feel About Chris Kelly’s Death

I’m a bit puzzled how to feel about the news that Chris Kelly of Kriss Kross has died. It’s not completely clear for me. To be honest, I feel a little bit conflicted. It’s sad, but I’m not as sad as some people. Is this particularly relevant to me or not?

I mean, I’m sad because a living person has died. That’s always sad, regardless of who it is. Some will argue that it isn’t sad when people they don’t like die, but I still think it’s always sad. It’s mortality after all. Whether or not he O.D.’d is beyond the point for me. A human being is gone, and one who was unfortunately pretty young when he went.

It would be more significant for me if I was a fan of Kriss Kross, which was never the case. Sure, I knew of Jump. Hell, I didn’t have a choice. If you were watching tv at that particular time in history, you had that song and/or video drilled into your head (remember how they showed the two kids ostensibly driving the car only the wheels went backwards?).

No, I was not a fan. Still, due to the fact that the song and the group were part of the culture for a time period, I still think his passing has some significance beyond that of just sympathy for the death of a fellow human being. I didn’t like the song or the group, but it was part of the environment that was absorbed into my consciousness and my identity. It’s in there, like it or not.

It’s just puzzling, not having been a fan yet recognizing that he had some influence on my mental world. I don’t know if this makes any sense or not, but I thought I’d ramble about this anyway. My sympathy to him and my condolences to his family and friends (and even fans). I’m just sorting out my thoughts about this being somehow significant for me even though I wasn’t a fan of his work. The world is the world and it always gives me pause when something irrevocably changes (as it always does, sooner or later).