When OZONE featured Big K.R.I.T. in its Patiently Waiting section in 2006, only a few people had heard of the then 19-year old rapper/producer. He was from the small town of Meridian, Mississippi, so you almost had to either be from there or have worked with him to be aware of his music. Sensing that it would be an uphill battle to get noticed in his hometown, K.R.I.T. trekked to Atlanta, where he shopped beats and handed out mixtapes from his See Me On Top series, which featured assistance from DJ Folk, DJ Wally Sparks and DJ Infamous. While his buzz started to catch fire in the Southeast, a few obstacles set him off track professionally, personally and creatively. Almost getting swallowed up in Atlanta’s heavy dance and club scene, K.R.I.T. soon found himself at a crossroads. One that he actually hinted at meeting in his 2006 interview. “I try to be positive and have uplifting music, but sometimes you gotta bring it back down to reality,” he said. K.R.I.T. sensed that he was due for a reality check and moved back to Mississippi in 2008. After getting back in touch with his family and roots, he began recording Krit Wuz Here, a sample-laden, soul-searching opus that has surprisingly become one of the most heralded releases of 2010. Even though he gave the project away for free over the internet, he received a nice kickback in the form of a deal with Def Jam records. OZONE caught up with K.R.I.T. to talk about his journey and the project he feels took him five years to make. A lot of people are labeling you as a “new” artist, which isn’t quite accurate. You’ve been at this for about five years now. Yeah. In 2005 the first DJ that ever put me on a mixtape was DJ Folk on From The Trap to the Stroll; the song was called “They Gon’ Hate.” Then he put me on his Deep In the Game series. He wound up hosting my mixtape See Me On Top part 2. I also did King of the Queen with DJ Wally Sparks and See Me On Top part 3 with DJ Infamous. So DJs have been showing me love from the start. Around that time I was still making a name for myself as both a rapper and producer. I did “Live and Let Die” for Big Floaty and worked with Max Minelli. It was all about working with indie artists. What happened between See Me On Top
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parts 2 and 3 and then after that? It seemed like you got away from the soulful music you were producing for a minute, then disappeared. I was trying to figure out the best way to come out and be myself and building a brand. It got to a point where I was sacrificing my creative mindframe to try and get a buzz or be on the radio. So I went back to Mississippi to find my roots and what I wanted to put out to the world. I feel like Krit Wuz Here was five years in the making. It’s showing the world that I ain’t new to this, but letting the mainstream get introduced to me. The song that seemed to reel everybody in was “Hometown Hero.” When I did that track, I was riding with my potna Mike Hartnett of Rehab. He put me up on Adele’s “Hometown Glory.” Five months later I bought her music, sampled it, made a song, and just started blasting it. It started bubbling. In January, Creative Control did the video. I think the footage helped the song get out. Is there a story behind that beat? Two or three different artists hopped on it too. Did the beat get leaked or passed around? No, the song is just popular. Adele was Grammy nominated. The album is amazing. When I sampled it I was unaware of how many other people were sampling it too. The rest of this interview is featured in the current issue of OZONE.