Photo: MikaV / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
KRS-One is the closest thing hip hop has to a tenured professor, and he has earned every bit of that 'Teacha' reputation. From the raw street reportage of Criminal Minded to the philosophy-heavy solo work, he treats the microphone like a lectern without ever sacrificing the boom-bap energy. I have always loved that he can battle-rap with the best of them, his demolition of MC Shan in the Bridge Wars is foundational, yet turn around and lead the Stop the Violence Movement. He is opinionated to a fault and not everyone agrees with his theories, but his commitment to hip hop as culture rather than commodity is unmatched.
Overview
KRS-One (born 1965) is an American rapper, lyricist, and activist from the Bronx, New York. He rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as the frontman of Boogie Down Productions alongside DJ Scott La Rock, helping pioneer conscious and politically charged hip hop. Widely nicknamed 'The Teacha,' he is regarded as one of the genre's foremost lyricists and intellectuals, and he founded the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- KRS-One
- Name (Japanese)
- KRS・ワン
- Reading
- KRS・わん
- Born
- August 20, 1965 (age 60)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Snake
- Origin
- The Bronx, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Rapper / Singer / Lyricist / Music producer / Activist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2007 BET Hip Hop Award
- 2009 Urban Music Awards
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.krs-one.com/
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/teacha_krsone/
- Xhttps://x.com/IAmKRSOne
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/KRS%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AF%E3%83%B3
Rapper — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.