Big K.R.I.T. reigns

Big K.R.I.T.

This Mississippi mane is well on his way to living up to his name — that’s Big King, Remembered in Time.

K.R.I.T has been no stranger to Montreal, having visited several times since the release of his first free tape, K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, through two more free insta-indie rap classics. He now celebrates his Def Jam debut, Live From the Underground.

Dropping by Pop for a show with Southern contemporary Slim Thug and his hype man Big Sant, the insightful, often oracle-like MC/producer, literally one of the biggest names in underground hip hop today, took time out to call in from an NYC tour stop yesterday and chop it up about playin’ in the majors, seeing the world, making his mark in it and recording with living legend B.B. King

Darcy MacDonald: Have you headlined New York yet?
Big K.R.I.T:  Yes, I headlined New York at S.O.B’s one time, and then I headlined the Highland Ballroom when I dropped 4Eva N A Day. And then tonight, I’m co-headlining with Slim (Thug) ’cuz it’s the Live From the Underground tour.

DM: The reason I ask is because I’m curious: how does New York react?
K.R.I.T: Oh, they love us! The Highland Ballroom show was sold out. So it keeps gettin’ bigger and bigger. I think people are really diving more into the content, outside of me bein’ a Southern artist, I think they can really relate to a lotta the things that I’m talkin’ about.

A lotta people thought our music was regional at one point. It’s like, places might not obviously understand your background, or may have not been to where you’re from. Because I’m comin’ from a real place, or a place of being human on my music, it still comes across, and they still can relate to the content.

DM: This is what, maybe your fourth time up here to Montreal? I interviewed you before your first show here and you’ve been back at least two, three times since.
K.R.I.T.: Yeah man! I did two smaller club tours up there, and then I came up on my own on account of 4Eva N A Day, so this is gonna be the fourth time!

DM: That’s whassup! I haven’t had the chance to see you since the first time. Do you have any funny stories about shit that happened to you up here, or is it all kinda whirlwind?
K.R.I.T.:  Mane, it’s kinda just chill there! You know, normally it’s just about gettin’ my passport right and gettin’ across the border ‘cause you know how that shit’s like! (laughs) So that’s really all you worry about, then after that it’s smooth sailing. People up there are always really excited to see me perform. And shit, the first time is always different than a bigger…you know, like an upgrade — it was just me and my DJ. The way I convey to the crowd [now], it’s different, totally different.

DM: You have this great reputation for being “honest.” The word “honesty” in hip hop sort of has a variety of connotations, but what do you make of that? Obviously you are very open in your music, but what do you think makes someone turn around and go “Oh, that guy is honest, that’s why I like him!”
K.R.I.T.: I think it’s one of those things, especially now, in music, where it got to a point where hip hop artists became, like superheroes. It started getting to the point where people really couldn’t relate to some of the content. Now, everybody is not out here drivin’ Lamborghinis and Murcielagos, you nahmsayin’? So when I came about, it was just a point where I was like, you know what man? I’m gonna explain to people exactly how I feel about my life, spirituality, my financial aspect, my relationships, because bottom line, we all go through the same situations. I think what it comes down to — especially at a festival — a thing like that is so organic, and that people, no matter what walk of life they’re from, they’ve always loved music. Music has become like a language — everybody speaks music!

So it’s kinda easy for my music to get across over into the more homegrown, organic lane and be a part of festivals, ’cause when it all boils down, to be able to rep like, an event, it really don’t matter what walk of life you from, there’s still some part of the content that you can understand.

And then on top of that is like, it’s not like I’m just gonna be on stage and hold my nuts and walk around. I believe in giving the best possible show that I can, brother. I’m onstage for an hour, and it’s supposed to be a moment, it’s supposed to be impactful, and I think people know that when they book me — that it don’t matter if it’s five people or 5,000, that I’m givin’ my all.

DM:  How has it been weaving together a new show, with the new material? Do you have a hard time letting go of certain tracks in favour of new ones?
K.R.I.T.: It’s difficult but that’s why my show becomes an hour long, ’cuz there’s some records I just can’t let go. Some people come to the show and there’s certain songs they just gotta see me perform. And so I gotta keep that in mind, when I’m takin’ records out, like, if I was in the crowd and I came to a Big K.R.I.T. show, which song could I just not go without? Thank God I got a great DJ, Wally Sparks, who stands there and goes “nah, we just gotta keep this one in!”

It’s not easy. And next time around, I wanna have a band, because they can give a different dynamic to the transitions.

DM: The music on Live From the Underground would lend itself so nicely to a band. I gotta say, without kissing ass, it’s probably my favourite rap release of the year so far. What was the difference for you between self-releasing tapes and street albums and working with Def Jam at the majors level?
K.R.I.T.: Definitely the sampling! You’re dealing with selling, you’re dealing with retail, you can’t just go sample any record and get it cleared. So you’re dealing with that, and the pressure to try to get it cleared before the record comes out. And to be prepared to run into that roadblock when someone decides not to clear the sample. That was something new for me.

Dealing with the aspect of having to turn my album in two, three months before it came out was a new thing, because when you’re doing it independent or puttin’ out mixtapes, you can just pick a date, work the project right up until that day, and then drop it! It don’t work like that in the business, so that was another thing that was a little difficult for me.

DM: What’s your favourite song on the album?
K.R.I.T.: Ooh, that’s difficult! I love the outro, because I got to feature my grandmother on it. That meant a lot me. “Praying Man” with B.B. King is a record that I feel like is still new, it’s gonna have a visual to it but I think a lotta people still haven’t heard it yet. But I think once I hit a certain part of my career, I’ma look back on that and people might look back on that like, this is something totally different. It’s just a little bit more epic. Of course, because I got to shoot the video in my hometown, just the aggression — I mean hell, Lebron James saw the importance of it! I sat down and was watching the championship, and that was the record they celebrated to in the back!

DM: How did you get that track together with B.B. King?
K.R.I.T.: Well, prayer? (laughs). Shout out to my lawyer, man! She reached out to his management team, and there happened to be a kid that works with B.B. that was a fan of my music. He sat down and played the record with B.B., and he loved it and wanted to be a part of it. I think a big part of it was, it wasn’t like I was trying to feature B.B. King on a hip hop song. It was more that I was trying to merge blues and hip hop together. And even when we got in the studio and he had sang on it, he was like “Do you want me to play Lucille on it too?”

DM: Ho-leee!
K.R.I.T.: I was blown away! I wasn’t even gonna ask him to do that! He was like “I wanna play the guitar on it!” It worked out like that.

DM: You must have been beside yourself.
K.R.I.T.: Man, it was…it’s still unreal to me now! I go back and watch the footage, and it’s like, yo, I had the opportunity to sit down in the studio with somebody of that magnitude, that literally means so much to music, and do a song, and create the record, and write the hook and him re-sing it…and it’s documented! Man, like, that’s the kinda shit that will potentially outlive my career. (laughs) I’ll be able to tell my kids about it. It’s so important for me and my family.

DM: So, prayer works.
K.R.I.T.: Sure do!

DM: Now that you’ve been outta Mississippi, you been touring, touring, touring — what’s the craziest shit on planet Earth that’s blown your mind?
K.R.I.T.: Craziest shit…man, I’ma tell you somethin’. I wouldn’t say it’s crazy, but it is amazing to see how impactful music is, how influential it is, and how it’s important that I keep a positive energy and tell people about my morals. Because, you know, to date man, people really believe in the movement. I got this crown [logo] that kinda symbolizes the movement. It’s kind of a stylized Basquiat crown. And more and more, as time goes by, I see people with this crown. And that tells me that my music has inspired them.

So it’s just seein’ how much the music inspires, and goin’ on Twitter and it goes from like, “Yo, I like this song” to like “This song helped me. I understand what you were going through and that helped me through my situation.” That somebody finds some kind of faith, or some kind of belief in following their dreams — that, to me, is what this is all about. Most people’ll go to like, the groupie story, but like, nah. That’s all cool man, but I’m really out here to try to help people find themselves or what they really wanna do in life. Because sometimes you can’t find it in books, man. It might take a particular conversation, or you might have to visually see something, or meet somebody that’s following their dreams, and that inspires you. ■

Big K.R.I.T. plays Pop Montreal with opener Slim Thug at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent) on Saturday, Sept. 22, 9 p.m., $24.50, all ages