In the first of a two-part CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson, Big K.R.I.T. spoke about his intentions with Cadillacticaand 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.”
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“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.”
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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.”
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