Remembered In Time
Hey everyone, I have to set the scene for you.
It’s the summer of 2010 and the rap music industry is experiencing what’s known as the blog era. In those days, before streaming services dominated the mainstream, a few prominent blogs and websites behaved as the industry gatekeepers. They would break new artists, curate carefully crafted musical selections and soundtracks, and make or break careers with a single co-sign. These blogs were flooded with music, but the cream of the crop all managed to find a way to break through the noise. And that was particularly evident with the release of the mixtape K.R.I.T Wuz Here by Meridian, Mississippi rapper Big K.R.I.T.
The blog era also coincided with the mixtape era, with these two distribution methods commandeering the musical vacuum left after the demise of file-sharing websites such as Napster. Artists release mixtapes full of free music directly to these blogs or other hosting sites, such as LiveMixtapes or DatPiff, allowing anyone and everyone to consume their art. Most contained either all freestyles over pre-existing songs or a mixture of freestyles and original material.
However, few took the route to release free albums of 100% brand new songs that masqueraded as mixtapes. This was extremely beneficial because it allowed artists to release material without all of the bureaucracy and red tape of a major label. They didn’t have to wait on promotional schedules, they didn’t have to pay producers for beats or clear samples, and they didn’t have to bother with official supply chain and distribution partners. A few clicks were all it took to get your entire album into the hands of the consumer, and few took advantage of this free album method better than K.R.I.T. Wuz Here.
K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was entirely written, produced, and marketed by K.R.I.T. himself, along with his independent label partner Cinematic Music Group. K.R.I.T. had a knack for flipping soul samples that perfectly matched his complex, thought-provoking wordplay. The clearest examples of this were Hometown Hero and Children of the World, which have lyrical content many at the time wouldn’t expect from a Mississippi rapper. The mixtape garnered nationwide attention and critical acclaim and ultimately led to K.R.I.T. signing a major label deal with Def Jam Records, once regarded as the pinnacle of hip-hop. But sadly for K.R.I.T., that’s when everything began to come off the rails.
K.R.I.T. rode the wave of momentum from K.R.I.T. Wuz Here into touring spots alongside blog era darlings Currensy & Wiz Khalifa. He also landed a coveted spot on the 2011 XXL Freshman List, once regarded as the first step toward rap superstardom. Rap juggernaut J. Cole was on the list a year before K.R.I.T., and K.R.I.T. appeared on the same magazine cover alongside none other than Kendrick Lamar. The time was right for K.R.I.T. to release his debut studio album on Def Jam, but for reasons I don’t seem to understand, the label instead decided to release his follow-up project Return of 4Eva as a free mixtape. The mixtape garnered much critical acclaim like its predecessor, including being named the 32nd best album of the year by Rolling Stone. But a worrying trend began to develop for K.R.I.T. and Def Jam.
On March 28, 2011, K.R.I.T. released the entire 21-song project directly to blogs and mixtape hosting websites, and a few months later on June 7, Def Jam released R4: The Prequel to iTunes and other digital retailers. The Prequel included 4 songs previously featured on the free mixtape version and didn’t acknowledge the existence of the other 17 songs. This began a pattern of multiple versions of K.R.I.T. mixtapes and albums being in existence, with some existing in the free mixtape world while others cleared the red tape and were officially released by the label. Sometimes the official versions would remove vocal samples and audio clips, sometimes the entire beat would be different, and sometimes the official label version would completely omit a song. Currently, the official version of Return of 4Eva on Spotify is missing 7 of the original 21 songs. Some of the best work of K.R.I.T.’s career is simply an asterisk in history alongside many of the blog era’s greatest hits.
Sidenote: the title The Prequel has always bothered me. Was this intended to be the prequel to a true studio debut album? It wasn’t the prequel to a tour because that never manifested. I guess I’ll never know the true meaning, but I know that the mixtape Return of 4Eva was a favorite amongst K.R.I.T. fans and critics alike who clamored for his true debut album, which unfortunately wouldn’t come for another 12 months. In the meantime, K.R.I.T. would release yet another free mixtape, the 17-track 4Eva N A Day. This would also be accompanied by a pared-down digital retail version a month later, with 14 of the original mixtape’s tracks missing.
Live From the Underground, K.R.I.T.’s major label debut album was finally released on June 5, 2012, and in every way, shape, and form the album is inferior to K.R.I.T. Wuz Here and the mixtape versions of Return of 4Eva and 4Eva N A Day. Gone are the thought-provoking lyrics and soul samples, replaced by generic rhymes about Southern nightlife and car culture. All of the nuances and quirks that allowed K.R.I.T.’s musical genius to shine were completely washed out with this release, and it left quite the sour taste in the mouth of most of his fanbase that clamored for the material he had released only a few months prior. K.R.I.T. needed a reset and he needed one bad, so you know what came next of course. Another free mixtape!
K.R.I.T. would release King Remembered In Time on April 10, 2013, less than a year after the release of his debut album. Immediately after this mixtape release, K.R.I.T. began hinting at his sophomore album on Def Jam, Cadillactica, but an album release date never materialized. However, K.R.I.T. would get a huge co-sign from none other than Kendrick Lamar. K.R.I.T.’s Def Jam labelmate Big Sean released a promotional single on August 14, 2013, titled Control, and on the song Kendrick directly names the other artists he feels are vying for and worthy of sitting on the hip-hop throne. The first two names Kendrick mentions are J. Cole and Big K.R.I.T.
Many artists released responses to Control and it became a hip hop phenomenon of sorts, but the best response in my opinion came from K.R.I.T. with his song Mt. Olympus. K.R.I.T. effortlessly flows over a menacing beat that he produced and stakes his claim as one of the best hip-hop artists of his generation. The music video currently has over 10 million views on YouTube and it very neatly demonstrates his talents as a producer and a songwriter. Mt. Olympus was very well received and it seemed the timing would work out perfectly to draw more attention to K.R.I.T.’s Cadillactica, but for some reason, Def Jam decided to wait another full year before releasing the album.
At that point, K.R.I.T. had lost all momentum and fan goodwill and despite releasing a strong album, it was too little too late. To add insult to injury, Mt. Olympus wouldn’t even be included on Cadillactica and was instead added as a bonus track on the deluxe version of the album. Like so many other of K.R.I.T.’s songs, the music for Mt. Olympus would be changed, presumably because of sample clearance issues. The album would perform poorly commercially and K.R.I.T. and Def Jam would mercifully agree to part ways.
There are several reasons why I think Big K.R.I.T. didn’t become a more successful artist during his four years on Def Jam, and I think it should serve as a cautionary tale for all new artists. It doesn’t make sense to release music for free and then months later try to sell the same songs that are out in the world already for free. It also doesn’t make sense to change the samples and production of songs that have already proven to be well received by fans in their original format. Finally, if you have momentum on your side you need to release more material and strike while the iron is hot.
While writing this newsletter I listened to the This Is Big K.R.I.T. playlist on Spotify for inspiration, and it’s probably the worst representation of an artist that I’ve ever come across. K.R.I.T.’s discography exists in that strange blog/mixtape time where the Spotify and Apple Music of the worlds don’t know how to truly capture what made him such a special artist. His best songs don’t exist on Spotify, either being butchered by different productions, removed samples or not being on streaming platforms at all. And all of the streams and album purchases that his music would’ve rightfully received instead went to mixtape-hosting websites, so there’s no data to truly show the impact that K.R.I.T. had on hip hop as a culture. He legacy will be as a footnote for some and as a hero for others.
Regardless, he will be a king remembered in his time.