A Hero Comes Along

On the other side of up and coming talent, there's Big K.R.I.T., a kid from Mississippi I heard about via 2 trusted regional blogs I pay attention to who were singing the praises of his new mixtape The Last King. On BLVD, K.R.I.T. is compared to Banner, because he's a rapper/producer and probably because he's from the same state. I'll take it a step further and say like Banner, Krit flips atmospheric, gorgeous samples as well as any working Southern producer (I'll send any reader who can call the sample used for "Hometown Hero" a check for 5 bucks, it's the best beat in this beautiful dramatic vein I can recall since Crooked Lettaz', "Firewater".)

As an MC I find myself wanting more, I feel the way a bunch of critics feel when they complain about Drake and his not being more than the sum of his Weezy/Yeezy parts. Krit is a little T.I., and so far beyond his fantastic production he doesn't provide much of an interesting reason to check for him over his mentor. Of course it's early. Any debut is going to have the marks of a young artist's inspiration all over it. Very rarely does that singular talent come along fully formed from jump street and there's no reason at this juncture to hold Krit's lack of a distinct voice against him. If he keeps making beats like this who gives a fuck? If nothing else he could slide a real MC a beat tape and produce a classic.