Review Summary: K.R.I.T. delivers on not one, but two incredible projects that help stick yet another accomplished flag in the soil for southern hip hop.
Justin Scott aka Big K.R.I.T. has been on the rising tide of the south for a few years now but returns after 3 years with his hotly anticipated double disc project,
4eva Is A Mighty Long Time. A brief monologue on ‘Big K.R.I.T.’ opens the album before entering with an earth-shattering beat and rhyme flow, as Scott effortlessly weaves his way through the instrumental.
Scott’s confident flow against a flurry of gorgeous, popping hip hop beats make every song standout as he spits about a multitude of different topics, from the mellow lead single of ‘Confetti’ to the certified banger of ‘Big Bank’ where he shares some insight about the discipline he’s shown to get where he is and lead such a lavish life.
Even ‘Subenstein (My Sub IV)’, a song in which Scott fawns over his car’s sound system, while kind of trivial by comparison, is exactly the kind of song you’d want to blast down the freeway, lending itself a humoured self-awareness alongside one of the record’s catchiest chorus hooks.
“Trunk knocking when I drive, my sub came alive // Transformer in my ride, my sub came alive”
Despite this, Scott still manages to shed some lyrical insight on the more thoughtful numbers like ‘Get Away’, about removing yourself from potentially negative influences in life as well as ‘Mixed Messages’, where a self aware Scott takes notice of some of his own internal hypocrisies that he puts onto song, which is what makes ‘Bury Me In Gold’ a surprisingly profound closer. The self-referential Scott addresses his materialism and drive for success over his own spiritual growth, despite acknowledging that it doesn’t mean a thing in the afterlife.
‘Justin Scott’ opens up disc two with a more fatigued, soulful sound that perpetuates across the entirety of the second disc with cuts like ‘Keep The Devil Off’ and ‘Miss Georgia Fornia’ demonstrating a more noticeable southern expression. It becomes apparent that these two divisions come together to form two sides of Scott himself - the ego and the humility, the façade and the vulnerable. Big K.R.I.T. and Justin Scott.
Scott does an impressive job of showcasing his two separate personas while ensuring that each disc has legs and can survive on its own merit. Littered with soulful, proud southern production and intricate lyricism that toes the line between alpha dog bravado and a stripped down vulnerability that makes for two incredibly solid music projects is reasons enough to warrant a listen.
Dre’s Top Three:
Subenstein (My Sub IV)
Get Away
Miss Georgia Fornia
"Fourteen tracks? It's a classic!"
