Road to Being Remembered
By: Carl Lamarre
Everyone dreams of being remembered. Everyone fantasizes of having their names encrypted in the forefront of people’s minds because inevitably legacies will tarnish. Names will dissipate. Your achievements will be viewed no longer as an insurmountable feat, but simply, just achievable and attainable. Sadly, mediocrity is within the realm of possibility, unless you’re a king.
Meet Justin Scott, a 25 year-old who raps and produces fresh out of Mississippi. Justin Scott has had a bevy of opportunities placed at his disposal as he has graced the cover of XXL after being named one of the Freshman 10. He’s been touring with the likes of Curren$y and Smoke DZA on the Smokers Tour. In addition, his highly revered mixtape Return of 4Eva has catapulted him into some of hip hop’s grandest landscapes including a slot on The BET Awards Show Cypher. The reason Justin Scott is grinding so hard is because Justin is fighting to be a King – A King Remembered in Time. Meet Justin Scott, better yet, meet Big Krit.
CL: You’re currently on the Smokers Club tour featuring Smoke DZA and Curren$y, and had the performance in New York. Describe that euphoric feeling you get on stage when you’re performing and have fans singing along with your lyrics?
BK: It’s an amazing feeling. You never really get used to it. You’re in different cities and get to meet different people from different walks of life. They might not appreciate where you from, but they understand and appreciate what you went through because it may relate to their story. We just up there and we’re rocking man. It’s a beautiful experience. And on top of that, to get to a record like Children of the World and people are singing the lyrics back from that, it becomes a real emotional type of experience man. You don’t even know how long it took for me to actually perform. I used to perform in front of crowds of nobody, and nobody paying attention to me, or nobody cheered. And then, over time, people began loving the music. It became a blessing.
CL: A lot of people have already fallen in love with your stage presence. What do you attribute your high energy, and charismatic presence to?
BK: Really man, I just wanna give my all first and foremost. Whether it’s five people or 5000, you know I just really want to put on a good show. I think it kind of goes hand and hand with the art form of hip-hop. You should always put the same kind of energy on stage as you do when you’re in the booth. Also when you look at artists like David Banner, and watching him perform, you see how much energy he puts into his show, and the intensity level. Like being around artists like Yelawolf, and seeing how they be putting it down on stage, it makes you want to be one of those kind of performers. I want when people see my show like four times; they don’t get tired of it because I gave my all.
CL: I want you to do me a favor, and go back to the day of when you first saw your face on the cover XXL, and being named as one of the freshman 10. Tell me about that initial feeling.
BK: Ahhh man (laughs). I was freaked out. When we went to the store like down the street, we ended up buying like 3-4 copies of that thing. It was an awe kind of feeling because Jonny Shipes had ended up getting the magazine before I got it since he was in New York, and I was in Atlanta man. Man, it really was a wonderful feeling because you strive so hard in wanting to be recognized so much amongst a group of artists that you respect. And also, for a magazine like XXL to recognize what you doing, it was crazy. I called my Pops, and said, “Go to Wal-Mart” so that all my family could read a brief description of my music. And it put me in households that I normally wouldn’t have been in as far as hip-hop is concerned. That’s why it’s important that I have a jacket that says Krit in case people don’t know what I look like, and people could put a face to the name.
CL: You know Krit; a lot of people would be content with these accolades, and doing features. Why isn’t this just enough for you? Why do you want more?
BK: I wouldn’t say want more. I definitely feel like I’ve gotten enough success to where if nothing ever happened tomorrow, I could really be like this was more than I’ve ever imagined. My parents would be proud of me. You know really it’s Mississippi. I’m really trying to put on for my state. I think now more than ever, knowing that I have a voice now, saying something important and trying to put the music out with a lot of quality is key. They like to put you in a box when you rap. I like producing music as much as I like rapping. I like soul music. I like writing R&B and things of that nature. At this point, it’s really about seeing how far I can go with a creative mind, and really try to help people with the music.
CL: There are two sides of Krit that we both know: There’s Krit the rapper, and also there’s Krit behind the boards on the production side. Which do you like do more, the producing side or the rapping side?
BK: Damn. I like em’ both. I would say the rapping side would be a little bit more because an instrumental could be jamming, but it could only be so jamming. Words do something to people. You know when you say something, and it’s informational or it might be able to help a person. When the beat goes away, and it’s just me and these words, there’s something that just makes you think about spoken word and poetry. It touches people. Like I love making music too, but overall I hold both high on my things to do list.
CL: You know you’re doing a big role in helping your city as far as exposure is concerned. How important is it to make sure that the voice of that city is being heard in contrast to the major cities like New York, LA, and an ATL?
BK: I think it’s extremely important that I pull my weight by me doing what I do. There are a lot of artists like David Banner, Tito Lopez, and Joker that are doing their thing. I plan to pull my weight, and do it in a respectful manner. There’s a lot of stereotypes that people may have about my state, but for the most part, you can’t just represent where you from, you gotta go farther than that. I plan on staying true to myself by going to a New York, and put Mississippi, and put them on during my show. That’s with anywhere I go whether it be in the west or Midwest or anywhere.
CL: You mentioned how rappers have to undergo numerous stereotypes, one being with their lack of lyricism. With you having just been on the BET Cypher with Kendrick Lamar and Tech N9ne, how important is it to break those stereotypes in regards to lack of lyricism down?
BK: I mean, me being a person that understands cadence, and lyrical content, it’s really just an eye of the beholder type of thing. If you struck enough passion, and subject matter, I feel like that makes you lyrical. If you’re the type of person that understands similes and syllables that could make you lyrical. But, at the same time, are you saying something worth hearing? I know a lot of people that I listen to on the lyrical level have something important to say behind their music. Like Outkast and Andre 3000. He said something, and forgot what song, but I just got what he said 3-4 years later. You know I’m saying? (Laughs) I have subject matter, I have content, and I understand vocabulary. Just because I’m country, that doesn’t make me unintelligent. I rap about what I know about. I won’t rap using words that I don’t know what they mean, and start misleading you with the wrong information. I’m not going to do that.
CL: Most definitely. There’s so many times artists don’t have the chance to sit and appreciate music as just simply fans anymore. You’ve worked with a Statik Selektah, a Bun B, a Freddie Gibbs, and a Curren$y. Was there a time you worked with an artist in the studio, and you were just like blown away by their talent and or work ethic?
BK: All of em bro! (Laughs) When there’s an opportunity I could send a record or chop it up with an artist, who’s a legend, and someone I respected so much man, it’s indescribable. Like to be able to jump on a record with The Roots, to have a record with Bun B, and Ludacris is crazy. Shit. To do records with 8 Ball & MJG and a 2 Chainz man is great and having the respect level so up, it’s unbelievable.
CL: Is there anybody on your wish list right now that you’re aiming to work with, especially on your album Live from the Underground slated for 2012?
BK: Al Green, Cee-Lo, Coldplay. I wouldn’t mind working with OutKast as a group, and Goodie Mob as a group. I wouldn’t mind working with Sharon Jones. There’s a lot going on man.
CL: What’s admirable about you is you actually want to delve outside of hip-hop by just the names you mentioned? Were those outsides influences that were not hip-hop related the ones that helped during your growth of being a musician?
BK: Man I used to go to the F.Y.E. store and preview the album there and listen to the Bluegrass section, the Soul section, the Blues section. Sampling was really the beginning of me making beats, because I wasn’t classically trained or anything at the piano and other instruments. So I would sample, and find different instruments and reinsert them onto my drum pack. There was a point I wasn’t listening to rap at all. I was listening to Curtis Mayfield, The Controllers, and Engine 5.
CL: Respect man. Now if you had to pick one track off Live from the Underground that you confidently feel will blow people away. What song would that be?
BK: Damn man. I’d have to say that “Money on the Floor” with 2 Chainz and 8 Ball MJG. (Laughs) Bro, I’m being mystic. Like back in the day when an artist dropped their album, you never got no previews, no artworks, and no track listings. You just had to wait. I’ve been real strong with not letting people know who’s on my album. I think it helps. It builds the anticipation.
CL: Before I let you go, I know a few weeks ago, Joe Budden was trying to reach out to you for a verse for his new project. What’s the word on that?
BK: Yeah I reached out to Joe. I hit him back. People know me and Twitter boy. I’m rarely ever on that. I heard like, “Yo. Joe just reached out to you on Twitter.” I just know there’s normally a lot of negativity on that, so I stay away from it. Plus if I was on Twitter a lot, I wouldn’t be working as much.
CL: Of course, so what’s the update on that track?
BK: I’m not gonna speak on that. (Laughs) You all gotta wait and see.
