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Christopher "Play" Martin
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Martin
Born	July 10, 1962 (1962-07-10) (age 47)
Origin	Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Hip Hop,
Occupations	rapper
Years active	1980 -
Labels	Select Records
Associated acts	Kid 'n Play, House Party

Christopher "Play" Martin (born July 10, 1962) is an American rapper and actor, formerly the latter half of the late 1980s/early 1990s hip-hop/comedy duo Kid 'n Play.

Biography

Career

The name Play comes from his original MC name, Playboy, which originated with a group called Quicksilver and the Super Lovers,^[1] which featured producer Hurby Luv Bug. It was with this group that he met Christopher "Kid" Reid, who was using the name "Kid Coolout" with a group called The Turnout Brothers. In time, all of the members of their respective groups moved on, and decided that they could work together as a duo. By shortening their nicknames, it would lead to the start of the group Kid 'n Play.

With Kid, Play recorded three successful albums and starred in four hip-hop based comedy films: House Party, House Party 2, Class Act, and House Party 3. After the duo split in 1993, Play became a born-again Christian and focused on Christian hip hop. Today, Play is the founder and CEO of HP4 Digital, a pre and post production multimedia company for film, digital media, and theater.

Play was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. ^{[2] [3]}

Personal life

Martin was born in Queens, New York. He is a graduate of the High School of Art and Design, in New York City. Martin has a son, Skyler Martin with ex-wife Shari Headley (an actress best known for her role in the 1988 comedy Coming To America starring Eddie Murphy). The couple married in May 1993 and divorced in June 1995. Martin now resides in Durham, North Carolina and was a hip hop teacher at North Carolina Central University, until budget cuts forced the school to let him go in 2009. Upon learning of the firing, students began a petition for Martin to be given back the position, along with 9th Wonder. Martin also likes to devote time to the non-profit group Campaign 4 Change. Christopher "Play" Martin is also related to singer London Jones, rapper Tupac Shakur and comedian Raymond "The Rayvolution" Baxter.

Discography

With Kid 'n Play

Albums

• 1988: 2 Hype
• 1990: Kid 'n Play's Funhouse
• 1991: Face the Nation

Filmography

• The Cosby Show - recurring "guest star" as Christopher Martin
• House Party (1990)
• Kid 'N Play (1990–1991, animated cartoon, NBC)
• House Party 2 (1991)
• Class Act (1992)
• House Party 3 (1994)
• Rising to the Top (1999)
• Welcome to Durham, USA (2007)
• BET Hip-Hop Awards (2009) as himself

References

External links

• Christopher "Play" Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with The State of Things on North Carolina Public Radio