Rap giant KRS-One wants you to step into a world of intellectual conversation when he becomes the next high-profile guest at Wilmington Public Library on Thursday, April 27.
This free event, which includes a talk and live performance, likely will sell out. So you’ll want to show up early to improve your chances of landing a seat.
No registration is needed since its first-come, first-served.
The event will be moderated by Middletown rapper and entrepreneur Eric “Zeeky El” Gross, formerly of Wilmington.
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KRS-One headlined the library’s Juneteenth celebration in 2021. Now he’s coming back to Wilmington in April for a little encore as part of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
Who’s KRS-One?
Some believe KRS-One (Lawrence Parker) is the greatest emcee of all time. While that’s debatable, he’s certainly one of the most important emcees in hip-hop history, let alone one of New York’s finest.
KRS-One built his career, which started nearly 40 years ago, off his wordplay and conscious lyrics that highlighted Black politics, instead of flooding the radio with songs about material wealth or bragging about committing crimes.
As hip-hop began getting more commercialized in the 1990s, he openly pushed back against its corporate exploitation of the culture he helped to grow.
KRS-One has dropped 20 albums and is believed to have written the most rhymes in hip-hop, per his website.
What songs did KRS-One create?
The New York emcee came onto the scene in 1986 as part of the group Boogie Down Productions with his hit single “South Bronx” with DJ Scott La Rock, who has since passed away.
He’s released a number of hot records over his career like “Step Into a World (Rapture’s Delight),” “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know,” “A Friend” and his most popular song, “Sound of da Police.”
What does KRS-One mean?
KRS-One is an acronym for “Knowledge Reigning Supreme.”
The emcee is all about dropping nuggets of wisdom in his music. But he’s also no stranger to doing it in lecture events.
KRS-One has lectured at over 500 universities, according to his website.
KRS-One also has released three books: “The Science of Rap” (1995), “Ruminations” (2003) and “Gospel of Hip Hop” (2009).
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This year the library has hosted Tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, rap icon Slick Rick, former NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and world-renowned poet Nikki Giovanni.
Over the last few years, the library attracted rap pioneer Grandmaster Flash, NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman and many others.
All of the events have been free for the public.
Jamar Rahming, director of Wilmington Public Library, said the goal is to bring extraordinary people to Wilmington for the public to get a chance to pick their brains and learn from these masters.
KRS-One’s appearance at the library in late April will be a continuation of that.
The Details
Wilmington Public Library (10 E. 10th St., Wilmington) at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 27. The event is free. Visit wilmington.lib.de.us or (302) 571-7400.
If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.
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