The news reached two boys from Atlanta in the middle of the biggest year of their lives. “Mike called,” they were told. Michael Jackson wanted Kris Kross on his tour.
Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith was 13 that summer. His partner, Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly, was only a few months older. Producer Jermaine Dupri had found them in 1990, and by the spring of 1992 their single “Jump” had spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their debut album, Totally Krossed Out, came out on March 31, 1992, and went on to sell four million copies in the US. The same year, the pair turned up in Michael’s “Jam” video, the one where he trades dance moves and basketball tips with Michael Jordan. And when the Dangerous World Tour opened in Munich on June 27, 1992, Kris Kross were the opening act for the European dates.
Smith looked back on it in an interview with The Audman, posted on YouTube in December 2024. They were “just two kids,” he said, “from the hood,” and here was Michael Jackson asking for them. Getting “that level of respect” from someone like Michael, he said, “was incredible.”
He put the age gap plainly, too. They were out seeing “the world with Michael Jackson,” selling “millions of records,” he said, “before we could drive cars.”
Smith admits he can’t recall the first time he met Michael. The end of the tour is another story.
“We were on tour in Europe with Mike,” he said, and “towards the end of the tour” Michael put on “a little celebration … for everybody that was part of the show.” That meant the crew too, he said, right down to the smallest part of the production.
Then he gets to the part he does remember.
“Mike set up his own fair … he had his own fair set up,” Smith said. A whole fair, for the crew as much as the stars. And for two kids who were still too young for a driver’s license, the best part was easy to pick. “I just remember that man and how it was a blast,” Smith said, “just riding bumper cars and all that kind of stuff.”
Chris Smith tells the fair story (fan upload of the audio interview)
This is a fan upload of The Audman’s interview with Smith, with his voice set to photos and old clips. He talks about Michael’s call at about 5:27, and he tells the fair story from about 8:10.
Kris Kross in the official “Jump” video (1992)
This is the official upload of the “Jump” music video, the song that was sitting at No. 1 that spring. It shows Smith and Kelly as they looked the year they went on tour with Michael.
The fair wasn’t the only perk of the job. During the shows, the boys had a spot most fans could only dream about. “We was like right there stage side,” Smith said, “watching Mike as he did his show.” He remembers “watching him do the moonwalk,” and he sums it up in one line: “We was watching The Legend work, man.