And that's something I'll never ever ever do again.
Kriss Kross. I dressed up as them, and walked to my friend's house for his Halloween party, circa 1992. Maybe 1993. Fourth or fifth grade, the years blur.
I knew every lyric, and sang them out loud constantly. Not because I related to the content, as I was a suburban kid walking to a costume party. I was not, in fact, wiggity wiggity wiggity wack.
But there was something in how those words moved - Easy without being simple. happy but telling a story, and that slight edge. Not danger exactly, but more like permission. Permission to be a little louder than the room expected.
Kriss Kross taught me words could bounce. That a hook wasn't just melody. That repetition wasn't lazy if it landed right.
The feeling that I knew something other kids maybe didn't get yet and, maybe, I recognized, I was simply enjoying what I enjoyed without being embarrassed or afraid.
Thank god my parents let me just be myself, and never let up.
They wore their clothes backwards. I thought that was the coolest thing anyone had ever done.
It wasn't. But also, it kind of was.
❤️
Jake