Mississippi Rapper Big K.R.I.T. Touches Down In Deep Ellum

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – In the days leading up to his sold-out performance at Trees Saturday, rapper Big K.R.I.T. spent a chunk of time chatting with local media outlets, making sure to sneak in enthusiastic praise in favor of performing in Dallas.

As a reader, it's usually fair to shrug these comments off. When doing interviews before a show, especially, of course an artist is going to shower compliments on the town that's hosting them. They'd be foolish not to.

But this 25-year-old is especially genuine. He meant what he said, and the stage was his pulpit.

On record, it's readily apparent that K.R.I.T. has no interest in painting himself as something he isn't. There's no conspiratorial tales of cocaine trafficking or drug corner shootouts here.

He likes hanging out with his girlfriend and rotating the tires of his Cadillac. He likes listening to Pimp C and Organized Noize and tries to recreate that soulful sound for his audience.

And his face-spanning toothy smiles Saturday (which garnered a he's-just-so-cuuute comment from a friend of mine), his propensity for jumping into the crowd (twice) and his decision to step behind the decks and let local stalwart Tum Tum have a turn with the mic tells me that, yes, he really does enjoy performing in Dallas.

And to further exemplify that, he kept a ferocious pace: After taking the stage at about 11:30 p.m., K.R.I.T. fired through about 17 songs in an hour. I can't imagine any fan left the show unsatisfied, another solid entry into Austin promotor Score More Shows' catalogue.

He offered up a particularly rowdy rendition of "Country S---," which sounded incredible fed through the beefy system at Trees, the best-sounding venue for rap in town.

On record, K.R.I.T.'s reflective lament "The Vent" is a stumble point that pits the Meridian, Miss. native's redemptive and bare honesty beside clunky figures of speech. But live the song was oddly poignant, propelled by K.R.I.T.'s powerful stage presence.

When his songs don't work on record, K.R.I.T. has nowhere to hide –– his voice often lives high above the mix. When performing, however, he's able to battle his lyrical clumsiness with his swagger, and he came out the victor many times Saturday.

Signed to Def Jam in 2010, K.R.I.T. is still growing as an artist. He produces his songs and then raps over them. To bolster excitement for his coming out record Wuz Here, he offered to toss $1,000 to anyone who could identify all the samples he used. Score one for crate digging.

But he's almost too beholden to his influences. While artists like DJ Burn One and the Block Beattaz use traditional southern rap production as a template and expand outward, K.R.I.T. seems content to make music that sounds more or less exactly like the artists he idolizes.

While that's fine, I just wish he'd escape his comfort zone more frequently. As it stands, he's making a brand of easy listening southern rap when he has the chops to do much more.

But it connects with people –– the crowd Saturday was as diverse as any. It was a group of fans that slowly bobbed their heads and sang the refrain of Trae and Z-Ro's "No Help" before K.R.I.T. took the stage. Four songs earlier they'd been shouting along to Big Tuck's "Southside Da Realist," which is sort of incredible.

These folks are a fiercely loyal group and K.R.I.T. has obviously won them over.

Now that they're listening, I'm eager to see if he'll veer off into his own lane or continue cruising in the one he's familiar with.