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About Big K.R.I.T.
Big K.R.I.T. is a rapper’s rapper—clever with lyrics, nimble with rhyme flows, and generous with food for thought.
The former Def Jam recording artist is embarking on a new chapter in a career that’s been long beloved for his bars and unapologetically Southern sound. Now releasing music independently, K.R.I.T. has shed major-label presumptions and is set on delivering an accessible third full-length studio album that showcases a matured MC doing what he does best. “I’m talking more about love, being excited about life, understanding depression, vices and how we medicate ourselves for what’s going on,” says K.R.I.T. “And then I got the aspect of finally finding yourself and being happy.”
K.R.I.T. began making noise via local mixtapes and by peddling CDs out of his trunk, also selling beats to other artists to keep his lights on. Yet it took five years of hustle and flow before he was discovered by Cinematic Music Group founder Jonny Shipes in 2009. The following year, he signed with Def Jam Records and dropped his proud breakout mixtape Krit Wuz Here. Its heartier successor returnof4eva followed in 2011.
The producer/rapper’s stock continued to rise as he dropped his anticipated 2012 studio debut album Live From The Underground, celebrating his Dirty South heritage alongside legends like Bun B, 8Ball & MJG, Big Boi, and blues icon B.B. King. He followed that release by hitting the features circuit, most notably stealing the show on A$AP Rocky’s 2013 high-stakes posse cut “1 Train” alongside the likes of Danny Brown, Joey Bada$$, and Kendrick Lamar.
All the while, K.R.I.T. geared up for his 2014 second LP Cadillactica, a conceptual project that imagines his subconscious as its own planet—complete with lowrider spaceships and his own big-bang theory. He expanded his sound by recruiting producers like Raphael Saadiq, Rico Love, DJ Dahi and Terrace Martin, opting for singing and live instrumentation in favor of samples.
After years of making it cool to be Southern, K.R.I.T. is preparing a third album that covers both personal tumult—the dangers of chasing validation and importance of self-care—and troubled times as the U.S. is plagued by police brutality and social unrest. “This thing that we’re going through now isn’t new under the sun, and it’s probably not going to be the last time there’s so much inequality, so much hatred, so much violence,” says K.R.I.T., who’s enlisted Dj Dj Khalil, Mannie Fresh and Supah Mario for his upcoming project.
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