Вот ещё то, что пишут о нём западные сми и он-лайн ресурсы:

Full performer name: KRS-One And The Temple Of Hiphop.
Personnel: KRS-One (rap vocals, turntables); Rampage, Fat Joe,
T-Bone, B.B. Jay, Rah Goddess (rap vocals); Neil Pethel (guitar);
Daniel (saxophone); Calvin Tibbs, Herb Linsey (keyboards);
Deejay Tine Tim (programming); Anthony Thomas, Lanji, Rachel Thomas,
Overcomers Christian Center Adult Choir, Tawatha, 11/13, Professor Ecks,
Reality, Jamal, Christina Lowe, Kristie Luv, Smooth B., Nyce, Varonda Williams (background vocals).
Producers include: KRS-One, Cookies And Cream, Bervin Harris, Tine Tim, Domingo.
Engineers include: Deejay Tine Tim, KRS-One.
Includes liner notes by KRS-One.


By Steve Jones / USA TODAY

On his first foray into inspirational rap,
KRS-One comes full circle from 1987's Criminally Minded,
tackling moral as well as social dilemmas.
He argues forcefully that hip-hop has a higher purpose than pushing rampant materialism,
and that the word of God can be revealed in the descriptions of the everyday realities that the music often depicts.
He criticizes fellow rappers for promoting criminal activities,
while disparaging gospel singers trying to be pop stars.
Though preachy at times,
KRS-One delivers thought-provoking meditations over hard-hitting beats on everything from inner faith to outward appearances.
The Sept. 11 attacks -- which he deals with on such songs as
"No More Tears" and his updated "South Bronx 2002" -- seem to have convinced him that gaining spiritual
strength is the only way to move forward. Worthwhile

"To be a conscious rapper ain't a mystery
You gotta laugh when they call you contradictory
The whole industry, you gotta push and pull it
To really get with me, you gotta dodge they bullets
BLAOW, BLAOW, BLAOW - every day and every way
You critics got somethin to say
At the same time, you've got to uphold Christ
Uphold life, while others flash cars and ice"

Lawrence Krisna Parker, 20 August 1965, New York,
USA. The kingpin of Boogie Down Productions and a genuine hip-hop pioneer,
at the peak of his career in the late 80s and early 90s KRS-One's standing was reflected not only in terms of his music,
but also his lecture tours of the USA, appearing at Yale, Harvard,
and countless other institutions to the dismay of some members of those establishments.
He was also given the keys to Kansas City, Philadelphia and Compton,
California, was nominated for the NACA 1992 Harry Chapman Humanitarian Award,
and holds the Reebok Humanitarian Award and three Ampex Golden Reel Awards.
He inaugurated the Stop The Violence Movement, and recorded "Self-Destruction",
which raised over $600,000 for the National Urban League, and the human awareness single,
"Heal Yourself". Collaborations with R.E.M. (rapping on Out Of Time's "Radio Song",
Michael Stipe returning the favour by assisting on the HEAL project), Sly And Robbie,
Shelly Thunder, Shabba Ranks, Ziggy Marley, Billy Bragg, the Neville Brothers,
Kool Moe Dee, Chuck D. and Tim Dog, among many others, indicate the respect which KRS-One is given by fellow artists.
He has also taken part in several important benefit shows (including ones for Nelson Mandela, and Earth Day), as well as attending rallies with Jesse Jackson.
Following the death of his erstwhile partner, Scott LaRock (whose violent exit in 1987 played a significant role in KRS-One's anti-violence tracts),
he has been joined on studio recordings by DJ Premier and Kid Capri. His post-Boogie Down Productions work combines hints of ragga with strong,
bass-driven funk and beatbox samples. KRS-One remains one of the philosophically more enlightened rappers: in particular fighting against the use of the terms "ho" and "bitch" when discussing women. However, he remains as arrogant as they come: "I"m not a rapper. I am rap. I am the embodiment of what a lot of MCs are trying to be and do. I'm not doing hip-hop, I am hip-hop'. His first album to be released outside of the Boogie Down Productions banner was 1993's Return Of The Boom Bap, though many references to his past remained. "KRS-One Attacks", for instance, looped part of the Criminal Minded title track, and "P Is Still Free" updated his 1986 anti-crack opus, "P Is Free". The early 90s also saw some words and actions that would seem to contradict earlier statements, notably his physical attack on Prince Be of P.M. Dawn. "The way I stop the violence is with a baseball bat and beat the shit out of you . . . If negativity comes with a .22, positivity comes with a .45. If negativity comes with .45, positivity comes with an Uzi: The light has got to be stronger than darkness".
An adequate rebuttal, but apparently all P.M. Dawn had done to diss KRS-One was to suggest in a copy of Details magazine that:
"KRS-One wants to be a teacher, but a teacher of what?". In retaliation,
KRS-One and his posse invaded the stage during the following night's P.M. Dawn gig at the Sound Factory Club in New York,
throwing Prince Be offstage and commandeering the microphone for his own set. The whole event was filmed live by Yo! MTV Raps.
Though he later apologised publicly, in private KRS-One was telling the world that he was tired of MCs and hip-hop crews disrespecting him.
That he felt it necessary so piously to protect it was an unsightly blemish on his reputation.
By that point, however, a new rap hierarchy had already superseded the old school style of MCing represented by KRS-One.
His commercial and creative decline during the 90s should not, however, detract from the importance, quality and influence of his work.

ALBUMS: Return Of The Boom Bap (Jive 1993), KRS-One (Jive 1995),
with MC Shan The Battle For Rap Supremacy (Cold Chillin' 1996), I Got Next (Jive 1997), The Sneak Attack (Koch 2001), Spiritual Minded (Koch 2002).



KRS-ONE – Spiritual Minded: Putting Gospel Rap to Hostile Tracks
Pros: Hard beats, hard raps, social, political, and spiritual commentary. Non-Christians can enjoy it as well.
Cons: A few holes in the production, people will still sleep on this.
The Bottom Line: This ain’t DC Talk, son.
Recommended: Yes

Kris Parker is renown through out the world for his dedication to promoting Hip Hop as a culture as well as
working to resolve various social and political issues. However, regardless of where his work and music have taken him,
Kris has always made sure that God has maintained a prominent place in his life.

Like many of us, the tragic events of September 11th have caused Parker to contemplate and re-examine his beliefs and spirituality.
While many other artists in many other genres simply push their thoughts and feelings aside in favor of continuing to secure their financial futures,
Kris Parker chooses to explore these topics in his music. Once again he picks up the mic as KRS-ONE,
this time rapping primarily to uplift the spirits of his listeners.

That’s right. KRS-ONE put out a Gospel album.

However, just calling it a Gospel album isn’t 100% accurate.
While the majority of Gospel rap has traditionally been just a very diluted Christian version of Hip Hop music,
KRS, being the proponent of Hip Hop culture and awareness that he is, made sure that the spirit of the hardcore rap music
he helped to spawn remained intact on this project. As a result, his latest album Spiritual Minded is Gospel/Hardcore hybrid.
Call it Godcore or Urban Inspirational or whatever else you can think of, but at its essence it’s just great music with a greater purpose.

The lyrical pyrotechnics continue as producer Domingo takes a page from the Rza on “Never Give Up”.
For this, the beatmaker borrows a Cantonese female voice sample to loop over the uptempo track. With his lyrics,
the Teacher assaults the fake rappers, dishonest labels, and corrupt radio stations for knowingly adding to the decay
of Hip Hop culture by messing up rap music. On the wide-open beat of “The Conscious Rapper” KRS-ONE paints a vivid picture
of how difficult it is to maintain his spirituality and positivity in his music and how his commitment to spreading peace
and knowledge attracts so many detractors. He makes a lot of sense when he talks about how conscious rappers will always be called “arrogant”
just because they’re trying to uplift and educate people (I’ve read a lot of those articles). Kris confesses, “sometimes it’s easier to just pop the Cris.”

The Temple of Hip Hop represents on the collaborative “Come to the Temple”.
Femcee Rah Goddess, Rampage from Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad, and Fat Joe
of the Terror Squad spit verses about their struggles in Hip Hop, while Smooth B. from the old-school group Nice & Smooth sings the hook.
With the pronounced drums and polished synth harmonies it turns out to be a pretty good track.
It’s a shame that some of the other members of the Temple like Xzibit and Freddy Foxx (I think) didn’t drop verses here.


One of the concerns I had when I first heard about this project was that KRS was going to sacrifice his usual onslaught of
social and political messages blazing over a hardcore beat for this spiritual release, but luckily this didn’t happen.
He continues to drop jewels from beginning to end over his standard banging drum machine beats without ever losing his sight of his goal to uplift God.

I would have loved nothing more than to have slapped about 30 stars on Spiritual Minded,
but unfortunately the production on this album prevents me from doing so. For the most part, the beats are great. KRS, Tine Tim,
Domingo and others do an admirable job of putting together some definite head-nodders without resorting to gimmicky samples or over-syncopated percussion.
The problems come on the stuff that’s not their forte like the slower, more emotional songs such as “Good Bye” and the R&B/Gospel-type track “Tears”.
The vocal, melodic, and percussion elements on these are often disjointed and detract from the overall song.
Luckily though, these slower tracks are few and far between.

But all in all, this is definitely a great offering by KRS-ONE. It was a HUGE risk for him to try to put out a Gospel Rap CD,
but it certainly paid off. And when you look back into his discography, rapping about spiritual issues is nothing new for Kris.
His beliefs have been present in all his music almost since the start of his career.

With Spiritual Minded Kris Parker once again shows us that Hip Hop does have spirituality and consciousness
despite what the major media outlets insist on telling us. Non-Christians, don’t sleep on this either;
essentially it’s the just the same quality Hip Hop KRS-ONE has been delivering for the past 15-plus years,
just with a greater emphasis on his spiritual side. Go out and buy this today.


For more info on the Temple of Hip Hop, visit: www.templeofhiphop.org