Big K.R.I.T. has just begun his tour promoting his newest release 4eva N a Day, an album which takes the listener through the highs and lows of a day in K.R.I.T.’s hometown Meridian, MS. While in Boston, K.R.I.T. offered to take the crowd of 350 through this same journey allowing them to travel south via songs like Country Rap Tunes, Country Shit, and Me & My Old School.
Before K.R.I.T. took the stage the event prepared itself for the carpet-bagging migration. Hosted by Leedz Edutainment and DJ Slipwax all openers were eager to impress the huge crowd. The first group, Saint and Radix, confidently ran through tracks dedicated to the home team shouting out the Red Sox and Celtics. They were followed by the eccentric but entertaining Real Lyfe with Moomdaddy at the helm. The group first ran through some swag-rap clichés, though about half way through their set they threw about $50 worth of $1 bills into the crowd. As people fought over the last remaining dollars on the ground the aberrant Moomdaddy proceeded to bring out a piñata throwing candy into the crowd after saying “Not all of us can afford to throw money around!”
The next group hardly even deserves a mention. The Legendary Music Team consisted of two MCs struggling to define themselves in a sea of look-a-likes. With songs like Snapback and My Cargos, the Legendary Music Team was a parody of everything wrong with hip-hop today. Though they lacked the individuality crucial to creating a name in today’s tumultuous digital rap age they did have one memorable line, “Now that I think about it, I go hard.”
Following the Legendary Music Team was my favorite performance of the night (2 nd to K.R.I.T.’s). An upcoming MC who has really developed since I last saw him, Natural graced the stage erasing the embarrassment that performed before him. Feeding off chants of “go white boy!” Natural spit bars that had the entire crowd swaying and moving to one of the most innovative and refreshing performances seen in a while. Natural contributed to the southern flavor of the night with his line “screw you like my hands on the wheel.”
The final opener, Stu Cat, was celebrating the release of his new mixtape Beware of the Cat. A Miami native Stu Cat is a Leedz Edutainment artist and flawlessly combined his southern drawl with the hard boom bap that is characteristic of Boston. Definitely the crowd pleaser out of all the openers, Stu Cat was the perfect transition between the Boston sound and the countrified rhythms of K.R.I.T.
K.R.I.T.’s performance was exactly as I had hoped. As is shown on his forearms, he is a southern native and proud of his hometown. I last saw K.R.I.T. in Nashville and was blown away by his stage presence as he effortlessly combined trunk banging bass heavy anthems (see Me & My Old School) to the introspective and heartfelt poems like The Vent. K.R.I.T. constantly announced how appreciative he was of the support he always receives in Boston and about halfway through his set he jumped in the crowd sending the show into ecstatic chaos. Once back on stage K.R.I.T. performed his slower songs before ending the night with a look towards the future playing the first single off of his major label debut, I Got This. K.R.I.T.’s first solo album is scheduled to be released June 5th on Def Jam.
-James Miller
Photo Credit: Grace Donnelly
