Big K.R.I.T has never been to Australia before this week. Rappers are still something of a novelty to our country, who pre-Internet was made mass aware of rap and hip hop through what made the Top 10 countdown on Video Hits or Rage.
There are die hard rap fans here of course, though the East vs West Coast thing is still very much what most here would think of when they imagine a rapper coming from the United States. The rappers who throw pool parties in the sunshine of Los Angeles or are otherwise hustling the New York City streets. We afford rappers narrow narratives, they’re ‘bout that life’ and not a life we claim to know.
To take a well-spoken and deep-thinker like Big K.R.I.T, you’ll need to undo everything you think you know about urban music. Forget Ja Rule ft. J Lo or Ja Rule ft. Ashanti, ODB’s license photo and chronic, forget your bus trips to University where Eazy-E spat “Woke up quick//at about noon//just thought that I had to be in Compton soon-“ in your ear. Forget all of it and consider what you might have failed to notice or invite in.
“I always say that southern rap has a different kind of warmth to it. Soul and blues, and maybe just because of the environment, those sounds just add a different kind of flair to it” begins Justin Scott, aka Big K.R.I.T, as he tells me about what people usually fail to appreciate about southern rap. Scott is from Mississippi, where rap is referred to as ‘Dirty South’ and song remixes are referred to as being ‘chopped and screwed’.
“The styles of music from the south just have a different kind of passion to it. Sometimes it’s not even about what you say or how you say it,” Scott continues, “When I look at my music, as long as it has a certain kind of emotion and you can relate to it and I can convey how I feel in that very moment, I think that goes farther when it comes to the music” he finishes. If you didn’t know about southern rap before, now you know.
Scott is passionate about championing the southern United States, especially as many of his favourite rappers are from there. “I listen to a lot of the OG’s man, obviously Outkast. Definitely Ludacris – he doesn’t get enough recognition for his whole thing, like the way he pronounces words – David Banner would be another one” Scott lists, along with his frequent collaborator, Bun B (not Juicy J as some might think, though their voices are very similar), and he also cites Nas and J.Cole as rappers he not only respects and admires, but those he feels have that combination of attitude and talent that is so important when performing rap and hip hop. It’s easy to fake, and maybe that’s what is also so charming about southern rappers like Scott, they’re undeniably genuine.
If you’re familiar with Big K.R.I.T, you’ll know his two most recent albums, King Remembered in Time (2013) and Cadallactica (2014) both released by CMG and Def Jam Records. “I would say [I’m known] mainly from my mixtapes” says Scott thinking on how the Australian audience would know him, “Those were what started people really getting to know me”. He’s right, it was ‘Country Shit’ from his 2010 mixtape ‘Krit Wuz Here’ that got him onto Billboard charts.
‘Country Shit’ would be the closest to the dirty south sound, or any familiar association with what ‘that life’ is meant to be all about. Both King Remembered in Time and Cadallactica have set Big K.R.I.T apart from that though, in the same way that writers are distinguished by genres.
Cadallactica, as Scott has described, is a planet, and the premise of the album is that a Cadillac from there has crash landed on Earth. Who else is writing narratives like that in modern hip hop? Big K.R.I.T seems closer aligned with writers like Kurt Vonnegut than other rappers. There’s barely a platform, and definitely no bravado, separating Scott from his fans though.
“I’ve always felt I should rap about my real life, or my own life and what I’m going through. I do my best to speak on social topics but by rapping about my environment and what I see, I’m kind of copying other rappers” says Scott on whatever his marketable difference from other hip hop artists would be, “More people don’t watch the news anymore. Normally how they find out what’s going on in the world is linked to music they listen to. I’m able to debate about certain topics, and I speak out about certain issues because people take news a little more literally nowadays” he finishes, and suddenly it is easy to comprehend atoms or particles bouncing back and forth from satellites and down to our phones.
“Normally how they [the public] find out what’s going on in the world is linked to music they listen to”“I’m just a big fan of movies” says Scott, continuing on, “I watch a lot of movies, a lot of science fiction. When it comes to my imagination I’m thankful that I’m in a position with music where I can tap into and create whatever I’m thinking. Sometimes it feels like I get outlandish ideas but I can sit down and work out how it’s going to sound and it’s something I can challenge myself with. It makes me excited to listen back to [Cadallactica] because you hear the journey of a planet being created until the end of a planet and there’s all these things happening, even some obscure stuff that you’re not used to”.
There’s no interrupting Scott when he’s gone down such an interesting tangent, “I think that’s what music is all about, just seeing what you can create…with nothing almost” he adds bemused, or maybe he got caught looking outside. It’s night time where he is. I can see rain clouds coming from my office window.
Obscure is a good way to describe the sample choices on Scott’s last two albums, with track ‘R.E.M’ from King Remembered In Time featuring UK singer James Blake, and Jamie N Commons features on Cadallactica track ‘Saturdays = Celebration’. Being someone with an ear for a great voice, Scott cites Adele as an artist he’d like to work with. “That sounds crazy” he laughs, “But I also want to record with Al Green, I’m such a fan of his music. As far as rappers, I’ve wanted to work with Kanye ever since his Graduation album. I want to do something really old, old , old school like that with him.” Considering one listen of ‘R.E.M’ demands a listen immediately after, Scott getting together with Kanye would play out like science fiction. It can’t be comprehended until it’s seen.
I tell Scott to maybe not check out the last Comedy Central Roast, which featured Ludacris as one of the roasters of Justin Bieber. Scott tells me he’s been meaning to see it. “If you don’t want the jokes on Ludacris to make you feel old, then maybe don’t watch it” I explain, though Scott is only a year older than me.
“Ha-ha okay, I’ll keep that in mind”.
Australian Tour Dates
Thurs 24 Sept | Max Watts | Melbourne
Fri 25 Sept | The Zoo | Brisbane
Sat 26 Sept | OutsideIn Festival | Sydney
Sun 27 Sept | Oxford Art Factory | Sydney
Tickets and info at www.handsometours.com
