Do we like them?

Do we like Chris Kelly?

Our score: 6 out of 10. A clean, short public record and a lot of love from the people around him, but too little on the page to score him higher.

Chris Kelly, who went by Mac Daddy, was half of Kris Kross, the 1990s kid-rap duo who wore their clothes on backwards. He and Chris Smith were 13 when producer Jermaine Dupri spotted them at Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall. Kris Kross became the first act on Dupri's So So Def label.

The debut album, Totally Krossed Out, went quadruple-platinum and gave them three huge singles. They popped up on A Different World and in Michael Jackson's Jam video, all before they could drive. The second album, Da Bomb, went platinum, but the group faded after it, as plenty of teen sensations do.

Now the bit you came for: the harm check. We searched for anything Kelly said or did about LGBTQ+ people, women, people of colour or the planet, and for who he kept working with. Nothing turned up. No nasty interviews, no campaigns, no grievance slide. That's honestly the whole list.

The good-person check came up just as quiet. We found no lawsuits, no court outcomes and no accusations from anyone, and the coverage is warm. Dupri called him “a son I never had”, and Smith was among those who paid tribute after his death.

He died in May 2013, aged 34. About 300 friends, family and fellow entertainers reportedly went to his funeral in Atlanta, and Smith spoke at it. It's a sad end to a story that began with a genuinely fun pop moment.

Be fair about what that adds up to. He did his work as a teenager and young man, and he never had decades in the public eye to be tested. So a pass here means nothing found against him, not a long list of good deeds. We found no charity work or causes either, so we're not inflating it.