{"id":39644,"date":"2015-11-14T20:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T02:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=39644"},"modified":"2016-05-12T01:21:12","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T06:21:12","slug":"featured-concerts-big-k-r-i-t-at-the-granada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2015\/11\/14\/featured-concerts-big-k-r-i-t-at-the-granada\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Concerts: BIG K.R.I.T. at The Granada"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a great year for southern rap. With Travis Scott\u2019s “Rodeo” thrusting the\u00a0genre into the mainstream again, Beat King\u2019s “Houston 3AM” keeping that door open, and\u00a0Big K.R.I.T.\u2019s “It\u2019s Better This Way” following on the heels of 2014\u2019s banger “Cadillactica,”\u00a02015 has been huge for the south coast. It seems almost by weather pattern or astrological\u00a0timing that every few years the southern underground hacks open to show America the\u00a0artistry its growing that is noticeably fresher than T.I. or Lil\u2019 Wayne.<\/p>\n

So for this reason, it\u00a0should be thrust out at the beginning of the article that Big K.R.I.T. not only delivered an\u00a0excellent performance, but used his touring window as an exhibition of some of the South\u2019s finest.<\/p>\n

At 7 p.m., on Tuesday night at The Granada on Massachusetts Street, doors opened\u00a0to an excited crowd. Inline for the doors were old school revivalists and rap fanatics alike\u00a0\u2013 a majority were solid fans as dedicated as any that one can find. These people gathered\u00a0in a reasonable number, comfortably setting the stage for a night buzzing with enthusiasm\u00a0and dedication to sound. It says a lot about the fans of a genre when no less than 60% of\u00a0the total crowd that night is there before the first of four acts.<\/p>\n

At roughly 8 p.m., the Houston native, Delorean, took stage.\u00a0A gracious and positive performer, this carried over into a clean and precise\u00a0free style that was incredibly well executed both on the part of the DJ and Delorean\u00a0himself. His meter set up for an interesting flow with the emphasis generally placed on\u00a0the end of every sentence. This lyrical jump into action warmed up the audience and\u00a0commanded attention with so much ease that its hard to see that this is his first tour.<\/p>\n

\"Bj<\/a>
Photo Credit: Caitlyn Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometime around 8:30 p.m., came Scotty ATL \u2013an Atlanta, GA based rapper who\u00a0presented a slightly different style and younger energy, but reverts back to a more\u00a0traditional method of rhythm. This is around the time when the other 40% of the crowd or\u00a0so began to filter in and a looser, more fluid energy filled the room. This fit well with\u00a0Scotty\u2019s meter that would place emphasis on the first and every other third word after\u00a0that.<\/p>\n

BJ the Chicago Kid was an attraction on his own \u2013 involved with a different DJ,\u00a0his set was completely separate from the others that night, but in a unique and sufficient\u00a0way. Much more melodic and R&B oriented, BJ laid down more complete tracks with an\u00a0excellent display of talent. He engaged the crowd and was a break from the flurry of\u00a0lyric, but ultimately kept to a nonabrasive sound. Although calmer, he was true to the\u00a0more independent Chicago sound and provided a really great dynamic to the show.<\/p>\n

\"BIG<\/a>
Photo Credit: Caitlyn Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around 10 p.m., Big K.R.I.T. made the entrance. With DJ Dibia$e sitting high\u00a0behind and flanked by the drummer and bassist, strobes ushered in Big K.R.I.T with a\u00a0dark blast of sound. The lights then cast upward and hues of pink and blue lit up the stage\u00a0and crowd.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, Big K.R.I.T. laid into the crowd with track after\u00a0face-melting track. He would\u00a0pause between just about every song to call out to the crowd or preview the next song,\u00a0which provided a great audience relationship and built a strong ethos with the crowd. As\u00a0he progressed through song after song with a crowd jumping to nearly every song, there\u00a0was a startling kind of realization that K.R.I.T. was a return to old school production and\u00a0subject matter \u2013 his songs varying from social issues to introspection to party ballads. This is\u00a0especially so once it\u2019s taken into account that this commentary to banger vibe shift\u00a0happened so subtly through the track list with songs like \u201cIt\u2019s Better this Way\u201d giving\u00a0into \u201cKing of the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BIG<\/a>
Photo Credit: Caitlyn Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around 10:30 pm the drummer and K.R.I.T. left the stage for a much-needed\u00a0break while the DJ hammered into this incredible 10-minute solo.\u00a0K.R.I.T. comes back out after and begins to blow the roof off with each\u00a0word more choppy and measured. By two tracks into the latter half of the show, the entire\u00a0crowd was jumping. As the solos came more heavily, it became more apparent how\u00a0embodying of the southern rap genre K.R.I.T. is. Independence, subject matter, raw\u00a0defiance, west-coast melody meeting east-coast beat, and a sprinkle of the Chicago chip-on-the-shoulder aura encompass a flow that is analytically executed with speed and\u00a0endurance. As its relevant to the influence, tones of SUC and Scarface are apparent, as\u00a0there seems to be a touch of Tech N9ne oral athleticism.<\/p>\n

By the time the show wound down, it was stagnated for no less than three minutes\u00a0before the DJ introduced the encore performance. K.R.I.T. revisited the stage with a final\u00a0burst of two tracks that sealed the night off. A celebration of the drummer, DJ, and\u00a0bassist followed and then K.R.I.T. bid everyone a good night by jumping down to the\u00a0level of the crowd and shaking hands sometime around 11:20 pm or so. The crowd\u00a0dispersed satisfied and the men of the night could be found here and there throughout the\u00a0aftermath interacting with the fans.<\/p>\n

\"BIG<\/a>
Photo Credit: Caitlyn Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though it\u2019s one thing to notice K.R.I.T.\u2019s propensity for showmanship and\u00a0audience relation, there are subtleties and influences that reveal themselves so strongly\u00a0when he\u2019s performing that watching him live is a whole other experience. The meaning\u00a0and emotion behind songs reveal themselves with the stressing of certain syllables in just\u00a0the right combination. Additionally, the line-up K.R.I.T. brought with him was an\u00a0attraction on its own, a showcase of artists like Delorean and Scotty ATL that deserve\u00a0future recognition as well as such formidable artists like BJ the Chicago Kid. Though\u00a0long and crowded with performance, the show was worth every second.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been a great year for southern rap. With Travis Scott\u2019s “Rodeo” thrusting the\u00a0genre into the mainstream again, Beat King\u2019s “Houston 3AM” keeping that door open, and\u00a0Big K.R.I.T.\u2019s “It\u2019s Better This Way” following on the heels of 2014\u2019s banger “Cadillactica,”\u00a02015 has been huge for the south coast. It seems almost by weather pattern or astrological\u00a0timing that every few years the southern underground hacks open to show America the\u00a0artistry its growing that is noticeably fresher than T.I. or Lil\u2019 Wayne. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7465,"featured_media":39660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4,3268],"tags":[3972,411],"class_list":["post-39644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music","category-music-articles","tag-big-krit","tag-granada"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/IMG_1266.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}