In the first of a two-part CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson, Big K.R.I.T. spoke about his intentions with Cadillactica and being motivated to step away from the business side of the music industry while recording. During the interview, K.R.I.T. also explained that he thinks fans “expect full bodies of work” from him more so than standout singles.
Talking about the planned November release, K.R.I.T. described the concept of the record before addressing his shift in approach from Live From The Underground.
“The first sacrifice was realizing that I can’t try to learn the business and try to create at the same time because things that happen in the business can affect my creativity,” he said. “If I’m angry on a business aspect then it’s gonna flow over into my music. That’s something I learned I should never do. With Cadillactica I took a step back, I trusted my team and the people I was working with to be able to handle things. When they came to me, they came to me with options: ‘It’s either this or that.’ It wasn’t, ‘Well, what do you wanna do?’ I’d be at the point where I’m like, ‘Dog, I really just wanna make sure this kick-drum’s hitting.’…So what I did was just kind of remove myself a little bit. I had great people working with me,. Shout out to Dutch and Steveo for really holding me down in the beginning of the process of this project. I got to sit back and create and work with other producers and just be an artist.”
Announcing that his next single will be a Raphael Saadiq production, K.R.I.T. said the process of working with the Tony! Toni! Toné! singer was “vibing and being organic.”
“People don’t necessarily expect singles from me,” he added. “They expect full bodies of work. I think if I wanted to get to a point where I could actually grow in my music, I had to almost step away from sampling so much and start making the kind of music that people wanted to sample. Working with Raphael also gave me the opportunity to write. And so when I was writing the song you can hear my voice different. It’s clearer. I have a different kind of energy on it because I’m not so tired by making the beat, writing the hook.”
Breaking down the inspiration behind his recent “Mt. Olympus” release, K.R.I.T. explained his reaction to feeling treated differently in the media than the rest of the artists named in Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse. Addressing a possible response, he said, “For me it was like, this is bigger than me just dropping a verse over the ‘Control’ beat…If I must respond to this, first of all I can make my own beats and I can make a beat harder than that beat. So fuck it, I’ma do that. And I’m gonna turn it into a situation where it’s not about that verse. For me, being heard was all I ever wanted. I went through so much to prove myself ‘cause geographically I’m from a place that people don’t really necessarily believe that we can rap.”
Still, the Live From The Underground emcee admitted to writing “Mt. Olympus” soon after “Control” was released.
“I wrote that song a day after the ‘Control’ verse came out,” he said. “But why would I drop it? Something else happened strategically. It wouldn’t have helped me to drop it then. I learned that this game is chess, not checkers. I’m not gonna jump you right after you jump me. I gotta think about this.”
K.R.I.T. also announced that an alternate version of “Mt. Olympus” will appear on Cadillactica.
“It’s a reprise,” he said. “Shout out to [DJ] Dahi ‘cause he killed that shit. Dahi redid the beat. I couldn’t clear the sample. Ya’ll know how this shit is. I gave it for free, I couldn’t clear that sample though.”
RELATED: 7 Expectations For Big K.R.I.T.’s “Cadillactica” Album
Does Big K.R.I.T. look like an “African” Well it depends on what part of the continent of Africa you are talking about.
Africa is the mother of civilization so the inhabitants of the landmass have the most diversity, the Sundanese are blue-black while the Erhiopians are light brown, the common Eritrian has a distinctly different shade of color than the common Ghanian.
Malcolm took multiple trips to Africa so he would have known this and called Justin Scott his brother in origin and his brother in Islam.
There has been a concerted effort amongst Devils to attempt to act like the pinnacle of Malcolm’s enlightenment was his sole trip to Mecca were he saw white Muslims and came to believe that the religion of Islam could reform white people…..a bit of zealotry and wishful thinking.
Always look at the lips, nose and hair texture and you can see the African in them or lack thereof, K.R.I.T is our brother from the motherland and more of an African-American than many of you Negroes with the slavemasters seed running through your veins.
I Agree Dad.
Well Mt. Olympus his best track of all time. One of the best tracks of all time. I’ll put it in the top 100.
wackass negro
ummm….u wack bitch lol
Take the crack pipe out of your mouth. Krit is the king of the south.
King of South?for real?
That nigga is wack.
^ you like Papoose? LMFAO. You and that other guy don’t know rap. Krit is that dude.
Krit is just as as bad as Papoose.
Yup, just as “bad”. Both are dope emcees, better than most.
Krit is not that Papoose dude. He’s just a LAR. Local Ass Rapper for yall NY cats to love.
I know it was his response to Control, but I thought these bars were aimed at Drake, not Kendrick
“I know you lame when you was in school
The little fame you ain’t used to
And it was easy for you to move through
English class put you off a thesaurus
Like one of these days I’m gonna be a rapper
But all my verses gonna be borrowed
So I’ma take from all these Southern artists
That mainstream never heard of
Recycle all of they lingo
And make sure I screw my words up
Bravo for your swagger-jackin’
I’m overwhelmed by your dedication
You actually fooled these people into thinkin’
That your music was innovative”
Because of the dedication line, because of the Rappin 4 Tay bars etc
See this is why people like you don’t need to think. SMDH. Really? You thought this was aim at Drake? SMDH.
Finally a Drake dick rider checkin in lol and that’s the cerebral palsy making your head shake
How is that making me a Drake dick rider? You are dumb as hell. First of all I’ma Big Krit fan. Thats gay as hell talking about somebody riding dick. I’m straight. your gay ass like that. Back to your comment thinking he was talking about Drake you sound DUMB AS HELL. Krit wasnt talking about Drake. Like I said dumb ppl like u always mix ish up.
KRIT IS THE TRUTH