Big K.R.I.T. is enjoying the biggest year of his career. Just last month, the Meridian, Mississippi native released K.R.I.T Wuz Here, a street album/mixtape that generated enough buzz to catch the ear of newly appointed Senior VP of A&R at Def Jam Records Sha Money XL. The former president of G-Unit Records immediately signed K.R.I.T. to the label as one of his first priorities with his new position.
However, the journey to the big leagues was no overnight trip for K.R.I.T. (an acronym for “King Remembered In Time”). His pilgrimage to the Big Apple was just a street dream as a young teenager who came up playing high school baseball while also sharing an affinity for the arts. Apart from working on his pen game as a kid, K.R.I.T. spent time painting and working on charcoal drawings. His culturally rich upbringing along side with his presence in the streets has molded the 23-year-old emcee/producer into a dopeboy messiah destined to bring some truth to the trap.
Less than a week after signing on the dotted line, VIBE tracked K.R.I.T. down to a hotel room in the Bay Area. While currently on the left coast working on new material, Def Jam’s newest signee spoke on his ride to the legendary label. —Mikey Fresh
VIBE: Your hometown of Meridian, Missippi isn’t really known in the hip-hop world. What was it like growing up there?
Big K.R.I.T.: Meridian isn’t a huge metropolitan city like New York or Atlanta. But the culture is very much rich. But other then freestylin’ on the corners and lunchrooms there was no real underground hip-hop scene in Meridian, so we really paid attention to the radio and television to see what was going in music from the rest of the country.
What was your home life like?
I first stayed with just my moms in my early years, but I was raised by my grandmother and she really instilled a lot of old-fashioned morals in me. She was the one that gave me the heads up on everything in life. I spent a lot of time in the ATL, too. I moved to Atlanta when I was 12 up until high school.
When did you become interested in hip-hop?
Watching Pac and B.I.G.’s movements and how people related to their music and touched people. Really Pac’s poetry touched me first. When I found out that he would write poems and turn them into songs. It really inspired to get into music. I always wrote poetry, but when I first started rapping I had no format. I would just write line after line. My rhymes were the best way I knew how to express myself.
You also produce a lot of you own songs, did you play any instruments as a kid?
I played the cello when I was in the 5th grade, and I picked up the tuba in high school. I feel like it really helped my ear for music grow. Producing really came out of necessity because I couldn’t afford beats. I actually made my first beat on a Playstation with the one of the old games.
I remember that game, MTV’s Music Generator, I think it was called…
Yea man! When that dropped I stopped playing everything else all together. I just started using that and an old karaoke machine to put my little raps together as I worked on improving.
You released several mixtapes before you started receiving nationwide attention. When did your first real big break come?
I dropped my first mixtape around ’03 and then really started taking music seriously. I was just pushing my music in the streets. A little while later DJ Folk was the first person to put any of my songs on a mixtape. It was a track called “They Gon Hate” and the response I got back was crazy. It allowed me to perform at a few clubs in Atlanta.
Did you deal with any prejudices based on the fact that you aren’t from a well known city in the South?
In my experiences most people have a deaf ear to rappers from Mississippi, maybe because there hasn’t been whole lot of rappers to blow up from there. I’ve dealt wit people thinking we’re all uneducated and come from a place with dirt roads and no electricity. It ain’t nothing to me, though—I believed in myself from the beginning and always repped for my city.
It certainly worked out for you—I mean you’re one of the first artists that Sha Money signed to Def Jam. How did the deal come about?
Well, I met Jonny Shipes in back 2006 and eventually in 2009 I joined his company Cinematic Music. Fast forward 6-7 months later, he got the interest of Sha Money and after he heard my music, it was a wrap.
You’ve also been spending a lot of time with Curren$y and Dame Dash. What drew you into their movement?
Curren$y is my homeboy and Dame is definitely a legend in my book. He knows all the ins and outs of this game. Anytime he drops some vital information on me I try to take it to heart. I’m really still a newcomer as to this level of the music game, so for me to connect with similar-minded people was just a natural move. For people like Jonny Shipes and Dame to want to work with me is blessing of its own.
Devin The Dude, Wiz Khalifa, Smoke Dza and your partner Big Sant are also featured on Big K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. Who would you like to work with on your debut album?
Bun B is an artist I really want to work with, along with Andre 3000. I would love to get Scarface on a record. But also Coldplay and Sharon Jones. I’m a producer, so I listen to a lot of different kind of music.
So what does this new major label deal really mean for Big K.R.I.T.?
Sometimes the business aspect gets in the way of the music and if you don’t watch yourself you can get caught up in the bullshit. I don’t want people to look at me and say, "Damn K.R.I.T. changed." I just want to utilize the new tools that I’m now blessed with. I really want to use my new deal as way to just build my artistry. I want to show people that I was able to just be myself to get signed. This deal is just going to give me new experiences and tools to make better music. I never try to make music that’s one-sided—I try to make global music.
