Justin Scott, better known as Big K.R.I.T (King Remembered in Time), embodies a dirty south rapping style that has garnered acclaim from both critics and fans alike. Hailing from Meridian, Mississippi, K.R.I.T stays true to his roots with tracks like "Country shit" and "cool to be southern," all the while though, KRIT maintains a certain level of lyrical value and content throughout most of his discography. His focus on content though, does not at all take away from his crazy, bass-ridden, live sets. At 26 years old, KRITs been on the rap scene for about eight years, starting to gather critical acclaim with his first major mix tape, K.R.I.T. wuz here. Released in 2010 the mix-tape got KRIT a deal with renowned label, Def Jam records. Following his signing with the label, KRIT went on his first major tour, The Smokers Club Tour along with fellow rappers, Curren$y and Smoke DZA. Keeping his career rolling, XXL featured him as one of their "Top Eleven Freshmen of 2011," standing among current stars like Kendrick Lamar, and (not actually good, but still a "star") Mac Miller, KRIT's rapping seemed to be taking him places.
Growing up in a place pretty much as southern as it gets, KRIT's environmental and cultural influences were certainly a little different from his north-east coast and west coast peers. Indeed, when asked about the state of hip-hop in Mississippi during an interview for Complex magazine, KRIT responded:
"We haven't had a large presence in hip-hop, so to try to get people to listen to where we come from and try to tear down the stereotypes that people may have about our state and our lingo is difficult. Again, being from a small town, it's not like people don't believe in you, but it just might not seem possible, so you have to get out of that mind-frame and know you can do things and succeed." -Big K.R.I.T.
Fellow Mississippi rapper David Banner, showed KRIT that breaking out of small town southern life for rappers with aspiration was a possibility. Musical influence wise as well, KRIT was different than a lot of his counterparts. While many young, up-and-coming artists look to New York staples like Rakim, Nas, and Jay-Z and west coast icons like Dre and Snoop, KRIT recalls the 1990's Southern hip-hop of Pimp C and 8Ball, rappers who casually include lyrically intricate rhymes, but seem more interested in mood than density, so KRIT soon developed a style more similar to his southern predecessors.
When KRIT was just starting out, he was "young and couldn't afford to pay for beats." To combat this, KRIT taught himself to produce, giving himself an appreciation for both sides of the hip-hop genre. Producing taught KRIT to appreciate the importance of beats, samples, and what goes into them. Like many producers during the early days of hip-hop, as well as some current ones, KRIT's samples are often the music of his parents. In fact, KRIT said in response to that very question, (whether the music his parents listened to affected his production choices)
"Yeah, no doubt. I just recently got a turntable and I got mad vinyl and I got stupid excited because there is stuff that people haven't tapped into. It was a different type of game back then and a different type of feel for music. Live bands sang mostly about what they went through and not so much for the money, but that they are recording and love doing what they are doing. It comes off better when you can rap over that type of vibe and that type of feeling; that's why I really like making soul sample-type records." -Big K.R.I.T.
KRIT, like many in early hip-hop and the G-funk era, uses particular samples to bring a certain vibe to his music. He calls on the somewhat historic music of his parents lifetime in order to relay the same message in the form of southern, often "soul-sample type" hip-hop records. Through his lyrics as well as his samples and beats, KRIT brings value to his tracks, in an interview with pitchfork music, KRIT said, "I think its most important that I have subject matter and content in my music, something that'll outlive all my crunk hits, all my party records."
All of KRIT's previous mix-tapes led to the release of his first studio album. Made with both Def Jam Records and Cinematic Music Group, Live From the Underground dropped to high critic and fan praise. The album debuted number 5 on the US Billboard 200 and Spin magazine named it the 11th best hip-hop album of 2012. Overall the album maintained astoundingly well KRIT's "underground" sound, and impressed fans by maintaining the same southern flair throughout its lyrics, beats, and samples. The tracks off Live From the Underground have the same bass-heavy beats and soulful background harmonies. Sometimes from instruments you wouldn't expect compliment KRIT's comfortably relaxed delivery of verses as well as the oftentimes somewhat repetitive hooks. Even the repetitive hooks though serve a purpose, for while a repeated "Fuck these haters and fuck these hoes" or "When I show up, Its over" may take away from a peaceful album listening, they certainly add to KRIT's ability to hype a crowd. KRIT's definitely made a name for himself recently with his new album, and announcements of another to come. With his Southern flair and sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes party-starting content, Big K.R.I.T. is only seeing the beginning of his career in the hip-hop industry.
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