Deftones and Kris Kross might be an unlikely combination, but neither are strangers to tragedy. The alt-metal band’s founding bassist Chi Cheng died earlier this year at age 42, after a car accident in November 2008 left him paralyzed and partially conscious. The rap duo behind 1992’s kid-friendly smash Totally Krossed Out lost Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly yesterday at age 34, a little more than two months after he reunited with Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith for a concert in Atlanta. The cause of Kelly’s death has not yet been confirmed, but the AP now reports that police are investigating it as a possible drug overdose.
Sad stuff. But Deftones, whose frontman Chi Moreno has also been releasing spooky atmospheric music recently with the side project Palms, paid raucous tribute to Kelly last night at the Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri (via Antiquiet). The band powered through a heavy, metal-charred cover of “Jump,” interpolated with the Deftones’ own “Engine 9.” In a way, the crowd’s enthusiastically raised hands make for a fitting homage to a man whose youthful hits were associated with carefree times, not somber ones. It’s still a curious mix, though.
