KRS-One, "The Teacha" is a significant figure in the hip hop community and is often credited by critics and other hip hop artists as epitomizing the "essence" of an MC and for being one of the greatest MC's to hold the mic. At the 2008 BET Awards, KRS-One was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, for all his work and effort towards the Stop the Violence Movement as well as the overall pioneering of hip-hop music and culture. KRS grew up in Soundview and Mott Haven (Millbrook Housing projects) neighborhoods of the South Bronx section of New York City. In his teenage years, he frequently accompanied the Hare Krishnas and was subsequently nicknamed "Krisna", hence "Kris". "KRS-One" was originally Parker's graffiti tag, short for "Kris Number One". He began using it as his stage name and later devised a backronym for the name: "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone." KRS-One began his recording career as one half of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions or BDP alongside DJ Scott La Rock. They met during a stay KRS-One had at the Bronx's Franklin Avenue Armory Shelter. La Rock (real name Scott Sterling) worked as a social worker there. The duo would begin to create music. After being rejected by radio DJs Mr. Magic and Marley Marl, KRS-One would go on to diss the two and those associated with them, sparking what would later be known as The Bridge Wars. Additionally, KRS had taken offense to "The Bridge", a song by Marley Marl's protege MC Shan (later on, KRS One produced an album with Marley Marl in 2007); the song could be interpreted as a claim that Queensbridge was the birthplace of hip hop. Though MC Shan has repeatedly denied this claim. Still, KRS "dissed" the song with the BDP record "South Bronx"; a second round of volleys would ensue with Shan's "Kill That Noise" and BDP's "The Bridge Is Over". KRS-One, demonstrating his nickname "The Blastmaster", gave a live performance that devastated MC Shan, and many conceded he had won the battle. Many believe this live performance to be the first MC battle where rappers attack each other, instead of a battle between who can get the crowd more hyped. Parker and Sterling decided to form a rap group together, initially calling themselves "Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three". That was short-lived, however, as the two peripheral members quit, leaving Parker (now calling himself KRS-One) and Sterling. They then decided to call themselves "Boogie Down Productions" & released their debut album Criminal Minded in 1987. While KRS-One "The Teacha" was equally known for his furiously political and socially conscious raps, the album, whose cover pictured BDP draped in ammunition and brandishing guns, is often credited with setting the template for the burgeoning genres of hardcore and gangsta rap. Scott La Rock was killed in a shooting later that year, after attempting to mediate a dispute between teenager and BDP member Derrick "D-Nice" Jones and local hoodlums. KRS would be determined to continue Boogie Down Productions through the tragedy, and was joined by beatboxer D-Nice, rapper Ramona "Ms. Melodie" Parker (whose marriage to Kris would last from 1988 to 1992), and Kris's younger brother DJ Kenny Parker, among others. However Boogie Down Productions would remain Kris's show, and their content would become increasingly political. KRS-One was the primary initiator behind the H.E.A.L. compilation and the Stop the Violence Movement; for the latter he would attract many prominent MCs to appear on the 12-inch single "Self Destruction". As Parker adopted this "humanist", less violent approach, he turned away from his "Blastmaster" persona and towards that of "The Teacha." After four largely solo albums under the name "Boogie Down Productions," KRS-One decided to strike out on his own. On his first solo album, 1993's Return of the Boom Bap, Parker worked together with producers DJ Premier, Kid Capri and Showbiz, the latter providing the catchy-yet-hardcore track "Sound of da Police". His second album, 1995's KRS-One, featured Channel Live on "Free Mumia", a protest song about the persecution of hip hop by C. Delores Tucker among others. Other prominent guest stars on KRS One included Mad Lion, Busta Rhymes, Das EFX and Fat Joe. In 1995, KRS organized a group called Channel Live, whose album Station Identification he produced most of, along with Rheji Burrell and Salaam Remi. In 1997, Parker surprised many with his release of the album I Got Next. The album's lead single "Step into a World (Rapture's Delight)", containing a sample of punk and New Wave group Blondie, was accompanied by a remix featuring commercial rap icon Puff Daddy; another track was essentially a rock song. While the record would be his best-selling solo album (reaching #3 on the Billboard 200), such collaborations with notably mainstream artists and prominent, easily recognizable samples took many fans and observers of the vehemently anti-mainstream KRS-One by surprise. In 1999, there were tentative plans to release Maximum Strength; a lead single, "5 Boroughs", was released on The Corruptor movie soundtrack. However, Parker apparently decided to abort the album's planned release, just as he had secured a position as a Vice-President of A&R at Reprise Records Maximum Strength was released in 2008. He moved to southern California, and stayed there for two years, ending his relationship with Jive Records with A Retrospective in 2000. Parker resigned from his A&R position at Reprise in 2001, and returned to recording with a string of albums, beginning with 2001's The Sneak Attack on Koch Records. In 2002, he released a gospel-rap album, Spiritual Minded, surprising many longtime fans; Parker had once denounced Christianity as a "slavemaster religion" which African-Americans should not follow. During this period, KRS founded the Temple of Hiphop, an organization to preserve and promote "Hiphop Kulture". Buckshot and KRS-ONE are currently working on a group album set to be released in 2009 on Duck Down Records