#5: Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. Wuz Here

Hip-hop is motivational music. It's hard to listen to legends such as Rakim and Jay-Z and think that you are doing enough with your life. This makes sense when one studies hip-hop and realizes that one of the defining themes in the genres history is making something out of nothing. This is why hip-hop was birthed out of the concrete jungle of the South Bronx with little other than a crate full of old disco and soul records and a speaker system.

However, with the multi-billion dollar industry that it has grown into it's tough to recognize those roots sometimes. With artists like Kanye making a short-film to help promote his own album, it's fair to say hip-hop is no longer an underground genre. However, the modern music industry presents complications. With record companies completely unwilling to take risks in an era of depleted record sales, many artists are left to fend from themselves. And where most artists flounder under such weight, Big K.R.I.T. rises with one of the best, and certainly the most motivational, hip-hop album of 2010.





In an era of hip-hop consumerism, Big K.R.I.T. stands out as an artist on his own. Complaining on the song 'Viktorious', "I'm making my own beats what the fuck!" this album displays the thoughts, ambitions, and frustrations of a young artist with the music industry that he desperately needs to break into. Even the title suggest a person anxious to leave their mark on the world whether others want him to or not. And even though he had to write insightful lyrics, produce his own beats, and ultimately distribute his own album, it's fair to say that mark has been made.

Days after his K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was released, labels came knocking at his door. They will undoubtedly be looking for the next 'Country Shit' or the next 'Children of the World', but what is on full display in the career of Big K.R.I.T. is the embodiment of hip-hop traditionalism. He is an artist that no label expected anything from, and while that is a shame and it shows the continued dysfunctional relationship between hip-hop artists and hip-hop labels, it have been for the best. In an era of hip-hop consumerism, Big K.R.I.T. was forced to return to the hip-hop tradition of making your voice heard by any means necessary and with it created one of the most unexpected hits of this year.

Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. Wuz Here