Big K.R.I.T revisits 'K.R.I.T. Wuz Here' on week of rerelease

Some artists linger on major labels for years without putting out a classic album; Big K.R.I.T. had to put out a classic album just to get signed to one. Two years after releasing K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, his pivotal 2010 mixtape — or albumixtape, as Andrew Noz appropriately called it — gets the industry treatment it should have had the first go-round with an official album release, along with his follow-up mixtape Return of 4eva, via Green Streets Entertainment. Both are available on retail shelves this week. It’s part of the promotional buildup to the forthcoming release of his official Def Jam debut Live From the Underground, due to drop June 6.

Considering all the ground he's covered in the past two years — producing T.I.’s big post-prison single “I’m Flexin’,” linking with the likes of Bun B and Ludacris on the “Country Shit” remix, even working with B.B. King for his upcoming album — it’s hard to believe he was barely keeping his head above water prior to 2010. With a handful of mixtapes to his name, the majors were flirting but steady dragging their feet on the Meridian, Miss. native — until K.R.I.T. drew a line in the sand with K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. Not only did he find his voice, behind the boards and in the booth, he instantly became the most vital new voice of the South.

A couple of days before the rerelease I got on the phone with K.R.I.T. to talk about the mixtape that finally got the industry to come correct. As K.R.I.T. reminisced about recording K.R.I.T. Wuz Here in his now-deceased grandmother’s bathroom several years ago, I had to remind myself that this is still just the beginning of this kid's career.

For a lot of people K.R.I.T. Wuz Here served as their introduction to you, even though you’d been putting out mixtapes like five years before that. But since that album/mixtape really put you on the map, so to speak, I’m curious if you consider it your personal best?

Man, that’s hard to say laughs. I think up until that point, yeah. I think K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was the best up until that point. I can’t really take away anything from the follow-up Return of 4eva because it was a different point in my life…. People got the opportunity to see me work with other artists. It just changed it up on a funky, kinda soulful level. K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was more like, “I rap.” And the last mixtape 4eva in a Day stands alone because it’s super personal, like a day in the life aspect. There’s not a lot of footage of me or people following me around, so I put my whole life on wax. But K.R.I.T. Wuz Here has stood the test of time, so it definitely played its part as far as introducing me to the world. And when people go back they see this growth.

I heard you say in an interview that you recorded the entire album K.R.I.T. Wuz Here in your grandmother’s bathroom. How surreal is that looking back on it now that she’s passed?