Kid 'n Play
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Kid 'n Play is an American
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
duo from New York City who were most popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is composed of Christopher Reid ("Kid") and Christopher Martin ("Play") working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eastmond. Besides their musical careers, they also branched out into acting.


History


Music career

The pair met while performing in rival high school groups the Turnout Brothers and the Super Lovers, and initially formed their duo under the name the Fresh Force Crew. In 1986, ''She's a Skeezer'' and ''Rock Me'' were recorded. By 1987, they had changed their name to Kid 'n Play. Kid 'n Play recorded three albums together between 1988 and 1991: '' 2 Hype'' (1988), '' Kid 'n Play's Funhouse'' (1990), and ''
Face the Nation ''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and Sunday morning talk show, morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and Television broadcasting, television network. Created by Frank Stanton (executive), Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Fa ...
'' (1991). Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor, the producer for
Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (sometimes stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa) is an American hip-hop, hip hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (rapper), Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (rapper), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). ...
(who had been a member of the Super Lovers with Play) served as Kid 'n Play's manager and producer during the early portion of their career. All three albums focused upon positive lyrics backed by pop-friendly instrumental tracks. Among the group's most successful singles were 1989's "Rollin' with Kid 'n Play" (No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart), 1990s "Funhouse" (No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' rap singles chart), and " Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" (another No. 1 rap hit). The group's stage show highlighted their teen-friendly personalities, and dances such as their trademark, the Kick Step. Kid's visual trademark was his
hi-top fade Hi-top fade is a haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is grown long. The hi-top was a trend during the golden age of hip hop and urban contemporary music of the 1980s and the early 1990s. ...
haircut, which stood ten inches high at its peak. Martin regularly wore eight-ball jackets. Kid 'n Play were also notable for their dance known as the Kid n' Play Kickstep, first seen in their video "Do This My Way," and described in the song "Do the Kid n' Play Kickstep," from their first album, ''2 Hype''. Also affectionately known as the "Funky Charleston," it was influenced by the 1920s era dance The Charleston. The Kid n' Play Kickstep featured the
new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...
-aerobic dance moves typical of late 1980s urban street dancing. Unlike the original Charleston, the Kid n' Play Kickstep requires two participants instead of one. This dance also was made quite popular in Kid 'n Play's feature film '' House Party'', in which Kid and Play have a dance competition with Tisha Campbell and Adrienne-Joi Johnson.


Acting careers

In addition to their music, Kid 'N Play have starred together in six
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
s, all based on hip hop culture-inspired characters and themes; the duo also appeared on the soundtrack albums to these films. Five of the Kid 'n Play films are entries in the '' House Party'' series. The first two ''House Party'' films (1990's '' House Party'' and 1991's ''
House Party 2 ''House Party 2'' is a 1991 American comedy film and the second installment of the House_Party_(franchise)#Films, ''House Party'' film series. Kid 'n Play, Full Force, Tisha Campbell, and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles from the first film ...
'') also featured the then-relatively unknown
Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on '' Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Lawrence began his career doing comedy shows, including in '' The Improv''. After his first acting role in t ...
and Tisha Campbell, later stars of the former's hit TV sitcom, ''
Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...
''. In the early 1990s, '' House Party 3'' (1994) featured hip-hop/ R&B girl group
TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...
as the music group 'Sex as a Weapon'. Kid 'n Play were absent from the later fourth film in the series, ''House Party 4'' (2001), which has no connection to any of the prior films. Likewise, they appeared in a subsequent unrelated film, ''House Party 5'' (2013), in which the duo made a cameo appearance to show just how successful their characters have become since the events of ''House Party 3''. They later made a silent cameo in the sixth installment, simply titled '' House Party'' (2023), which serves as a legacy sequel and reboot of the series. Unlike the older films, the 2023 film portrays their fictional personas as members of a cult, strongly implying that they "sold" their souls for wealth and fame. The first film was originally meant for DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Years later, in an interview with Halftimeonline.net, DJ Jazzy Jeff revealed: '' Class Act'', produced in 1992, was a comedy in the same vein as the ''House Party'' films. For that film, Reid traded his trademark
hi-top fade Hi-top fade is a haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is grown long. The hi-top was a trend during the golden age of hip hop and urban contemporary music of the 1980s and the early 1990s. ...
for braids instead. The haircut is used as a plot device in the film. Kid 'n Play even had their own NBC Saturday morning cartoon, '' Kid 'n Play'', for one season (1990). On the show, Kid 'n Play's characters were regressed to teenagers, but their recording careers remained intact, as did their comic personas. The real Kid 'n Play appeared in live-action/animated wraparounds of the cartoons, but voice actors (again including close friend, Martin Lawrence) performed in the animated portions of the show. The show stressed positive role models, teaching kids how to get along and stay out of trouble. A 1992
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
comic book based on the cartoon was printed for nine issues; the duo also shot some motivational segments for PBS, for the mathematics show '' Square One TV'' and ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
,'' respectively''.'' Kid 'n Play were featured in the
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
animated special '' Freaknik: The Musical'' as themselves. They also returned to the ''House Party'' series, appearing in '' House Party: Tonight's the Night'' in which they reprise their roles from the first three films. Since the events of the third film, the two have gone on to become music superstars and CEOs of their own record label- Kick Power Records (a venture they began in the third film).


After the duo

Reid continued acting, guest starring in a number of television sitcoms, including ''
Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...
'', '' Sister, Sister'' and '' Smart Guy'' and hosting shows such as ''
It's Showtime at the Apollo English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal auxiliary verbs and a few others. Although the auxiliary verbs of English are widely believed to lack inherent semantic meaning and instead to modify the ...
'' and ''Your Big Break''. Martin became a born-again Christian, and devoted his time to working on Christian-based hip-hop music projects. He eventually took his industry experience and founded HP4Digital Works, a
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
company that provides pre- and post-production for film, digital, and live theater productions. He also founded Brand Newz, an online news magazine focusing on positive community leaders and events. Martin joined the faculty at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina as an Artist in Resident where he teaches a credited course titled ''Hip Hop in Context 101''. Martin was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards. In 2009,
State Farm State Farm Insurance is a group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1922, it is the largest property and casualty insurance, property, casualty and auto i ...
released a commercial featuring
LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...
dancing to the music of Kid 'n Play. In October 2009, the duo appeared on the BET Hip Hop Awards where they did their trademark dance. On February 9, 2010, the duo appeared on ''
The Mo'Nique Show ''The Mo'Nique Show'' is an American talk show hosted by comedian and actress Mo'Nique. Airing on BET, the series began October 5, 2009. The show's second and final season premiered on Monday, October 4, 2010. Overview The show ran all-new episo ...
''. Reid made a cameo appearance at the end of the
LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off) was an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu (rapper), Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska. Sky Blu ...
video for " Sorry for Party Rocking", which recalled Kid n Play's House Party movies. On July 15, 2015, Kid 'n Play were interviewed for an episode of TV One's '' Unsung''. In 2020, Martin appeared in six episodes of the sitcom
Church Folks
"In November 2023, they appeared in a Progressive insurance ad, entitled 'Watch Party'.


Later musical appearances

In 2009, the duo went on tour for the House Party anniversary along with other rappers such as
Salt-n-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (sometimes stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa) is an American hip-hop, hip hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (rapper), Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (rapper), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). ...
. On June 23, 2010, the duo appeared on '' Lopez Tonight'' and performed "Rollin' with Kid 'n Play" from their album '' 2 Hype''. On February 27, 2012, Kid 'n Play released an "open letter," detailing planned future events. On July 30, 2012, Kid 'n Play joined
Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (sometimes stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa) is an American hip-hop, hip hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (rapper), Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (rapper), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). ...
onstage at a concert in Brooklyn, New York. On July 23, 2013, the duo made a cameo appearance in the fifth House Party installment, ''House Party: Tonight's the Night''. On February 2, 2014, the duo made a cameo appearance in the
RadioShack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...
Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...
commercial, " The '80s Called". On August 3, 2021, Kid 'n Play were announced to be on the
Insane Clown Posse Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo. Formed in Detroit in 1989, ICP's best-known lineup consists of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (originally 2 Dope; Joseph Utsler). Insan ...
's 2021 Gathering of the Juggalos festival.


Discography


Studio albums


Soundtracks albums


Unreleased albums

*''The Best of Kid N Play: A Sound Investment'' (2003)


Singles


As lead artist


B-sides


Promotional singles


Guest appearances


Videography


Video singles


Filmography

* '' Kid 'n Play'' (1990,
animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
, NBC) * '' The Earth Day Special'' (1990) * '' House Party'' (1990) * ''
House Party 2 ''House Party 2'' is a 1991 American comedy film and the second installment of the House_Party_(franchise)#Films, ''House Party'' film series. Kid 'n Play, Full Force, Tisha Campbell, and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles from the first film ...
'' (1991) * '' Class Act'' (1992) * '' Bodyguards'' (TV Movie) (1993) * '' House Party 3'' (1994) * '' House Party: Tonight's the Night'' (2013) * '' House Party'' (2023)


References


Notes


Citations


External links

* * * {{Commons category, Kid 'n Play 1987 establishments in New York City African-American musical duos Musical duos from New York (state) American comedy duos American hip-hop duos Select Records artists Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups from New York City