Totally Krossed Out is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Kris Kross. It was produced and largely written by Jermaine Dupri and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo and released on March 31, 1992, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. After developing a musical concept for the duo, Dupri and Nicolo spent two years writing and producing the album.
Critical reception
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, the music critic Robert Christgau gave the album an "A−" and praised Dupri for "avoiding BBD's girl-bashing and ABC's kiddie escapism" in his lyrics for the duo. He found the music "ebullient" and suited for Kris Kross' "preadolescent tempos and timbres". "Jump" was voted the third best single of 1992 in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Christgau, the poll's creator, named it the best single of the year in his own year-end list and also ranked "Warm It Up" at number four.
In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey gave the album four out of five stars and said that Dupri "delivers a catchy, pop-friendly batch of tracks that manage to stay pretty consistently engaging (perhaps in part because they are short)".
Commercial performance
Totally Krossed Out was a huge success for the duo, selling over four million copies and reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, where it remained for two and six non-consecutive weeks respectively. Four singles were released, including "Jump" and "Warm It Up", both of which reached No. 1 on the Hot Rap Singles, and "I Missed the Bus" and "It's a Shame". The album was certified 4× platinum by the RIAA. Music videos were released for the four singles and for "The Way of Rhyme", even though the song was not released as a single.
Track listing
All songs written and produced by Jermaine Dupri and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, except where noted.
"Intro Interview" – 0:51
"Jump" (Jermaine Dupri, Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, The Corporation, Ohio Players, Roy C, Cypress Hill, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, James Brown, Schoolly D, Naughty by Nature, Herb Rooney) – 3:15 "Lil' Boys in da Hood" – 3:05 "Warm It Up" – 4:08 "The Way of Rhyme" – 2:59 "Party" (Jermaine Dupri, Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, George Clinton, Garry Shider, David Spradley) – 4:02 "We're in da House" – 0:39 "A Real Bad Dream" – 1:58 "It's a Shame" – 3:46 "Can't Stop the Bum Rush" – 2:57 "You Can't Get With This" – 2:24 "I Missed the Bus" – 2:59 "Outro" – 0:43 "Party" (Krossed Mix) – 4:10 "Jump" (Extended Mix) – 5:10
Personnel
Credits are adapted from Allmusic.
Glenn Barratt – editing
Walt Bass – background vocals
Stacey Blackmore – background vocals
Tony Dawsey – mastering
Curtis Dowd, Jr. – keyboards
Jermaine Dupri – arranger, background vocals, bass, executive producer, producer, programming Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo – arranger, engineer, drums, bass, percussion, producer, programming Seldon "Big Wally" Henderson – keyboards John Hodian – engineer Frank Hogan – background vocals Charlene Holloway – background vocals Paula Holloway – background vocals Dave Johnson – background vocals Kris Kelly – vocals Andy Kravitz – percussion
Kris Kross – vocals
Lady G. – background vocals
Manuel Lecuona – background vocals
Rose Mann – background vocals
Joe Nicolo – engineer, executive producer, programming
Phil Nicolo – engineer
Jim "Jiff" Ninger – background vocals
Jimmy O'Neil – assistant engineer
Jim Salamone – drums, keyboards
Mark Schulz – background vocals
Terry Shelton – voices
Silk Tymes Leather – background vocals
Eddie Weather – background vocals
X-Man – background vocals
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
See also
List of number-one albums of 1992 (U.S.) List of number-one R&B albums of 1992 (U.S.)