By: Brad Horenstein (Right-Hear.com)
Follow Brad On Twitter Right Hear
The rap game is not dead. That said, I do believe it has taken a swan dive in relevancy and a back seat to indie rock, which now holds the baton that rap monopolized for the last ten years. Everyone loves music, but deep down it’s art appreciation, and after a while the radios get stale and sound repetitive, and people reject that. As American Idol dies, indie will rise. But indie doesn’t just mean rock, and if the rap game expects any sort of rebirth, it’s gonna have to be a burden carried on the shoulders of the indie rap community. Many point to JAY ELECTRONICA as rap’s savior, but I’m gonna say look a little farther south at BIG K.R.I.T. from Mississippi.
BIG K.R.I.T. HOMETOWN HERO from Creative Control on Vimeo.
He’s brand new, erupting on the blog community over the past month, and it’s clear to see why. BIG K.R.I.T. is different, and what makes him so unique is the fact that he’s incredibly bright and that his lyrics are appropriately deeper, fuller and more profound than most. Beyond K.R.I.T.’s phenomenal lyrical skill is the intangible that suggests his ceiling may be as high as any other rapper’s: BIG K.R.I.T. produces all his own stuff. That means unlike rappers JAY-Z, LIL WAYNE and YOUNG JEEZY, who are all phenomenal MCs, BIG K.R.I.T. is fully self-sufficient; he doesn’t have to hire TIMBALAND or the NEPTUNES to write his music, he just does it himself. And some of his compositions are better than anything else right now.
Check BIG K.R.I.T.’s sure-to-be breakout single “Hometown Hero,” off his debut album “K.R.I.T. Wuz Here.” This song is amazing. It belongs on the radio right now. It opens with a memorable snippet from the feature film “Friday Night Lights,” and the second that clip fades, it becomes obvious this guy’s production is a breath of fresh air. It’s beautiful, dramatic, cinematic and most importantly super catchy. BIG K.R.I.T.’s flow is on fire throughout the song too, dropping thought-provoking lines like: “the rap game is high school and life’s a hallway, like what click you in? The Beemer or the Benz? The Bentley or the Lambo? Like here we go again!” But it all pales in comparison to what is without a doubt one of the catchiest rap choruses in years. K.R.I.T. manipulates the vocals making them sound deep and sinister, while it’s all fueled by a heart-wrenchingly gorgeous sample. Huge debut.
On “Country Shit,” sounding eerily similar to UGK, whom he cites as a major influence, BIG K.R.I.T. stomps his foot on the ground and lets the community know he’s for real. These are by far K.R.I.T.’s two best songs, but to drop such quality so early in a brand new career is incredibly promising. There are tons of indie rappers, from DOOM to MR. LIF, who haven’t been able to write consistently catchy radio-friendly hip hop, which is what’s necessary to move quality back into the popular genre. Well, with “Hometwon Hero” and “Country Shit,” BIG K.R.I.T. did just that. Just like that. And album-closer “Voices” is another real solid track. Let’s all hope someone important hears about BIG K.R.I.T. cuz the rap game needs him pretty bad.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2-94FJd1WM[/youtube]
