I�m still walking around with the stank face weeks after listening to Big K.R.I.T.�s �Mt. Olympus.� I'm not quite sure what makes me giddier: the fact that he snapped with his full Mississippi accent on deck or the fact that he completely shut down any doubt of whether or not the south still had something to say. C�mon, folks, you know I had to include the dude 3000 in this conversation, as K.R.I.T. retorts �You tellin� me I can be the King of Hip Hop/and they wouldn�t give it to Andre 3000?� Indeed, K.R.I.T does have something to say, using his �country-ness� to amplify his unique southern experience within hip hop. �Mt. Olympus� registers as a push back to situating the commercial southern hip hop space as flat and focused on only major hubs like Atlanta. K.R.I.T.�s �Mt. Olympus� is a sharp response to Andre 3000�s 20 year declaration of �the south got something to say!� STILL. He picks up where Andre�s emphatic statement left off 19 years ago.



A few quick thoughts:

�Mt. Olympus� may leave some folks flustered because KRIT steps away from the immediately recognizable touchstones of southern hip hop � trap music, molly narratives, and drank/lean. Specifically, he steps away from any urban tropes of southern hip hop, emphasizing his rural roots with a hook that states �Now they wanna hear a country nigga rap.� This line reminds of my own hometown heroes Field Mob, who frequently snickered �everybody wanna be country now!� The inclusion of rural narratives in the southern hip hop discussion is important because they offer snatches of southern identity that not only tap into non-southern (black) folks� fears of the south but acknowledge a different type of sensibility/awareness of contemporary (rural) southerners� existence vis-�-vis dabbling in the past and present. K.R.I.T.�s moniker, an acronym for King Remembered In Time, is a tangible representation of K.R.I.T.�s (in)ability to simply exist in the present. K.R.I.T.�s use of time reflects a larger understanding of southernness blackness as a refreshing well of memory and cultural expression that exists in between the past and the present.

Big K.R.I.T.
Because rural spaces like Mississippi are often overlooked in hip hop conversations as a result of focus on hip hop as an urban culture, (rural) southern hip hop artists recognize a need to create a space for their nonurban experiences within hip hop to exist. It is in this regard that Outkast�s body of work is crucial, as they provide a blueprint for constructing literal and figurative worlds to explore the stank of their contemporary southern identities within (and outside) of hip hop�s urbanity. K.R.I.T constructs a similar narrative, weaving his personal past of living in Mississippi with larger historical stigmas associated with being Mississippi and black. Thus, �Mount Olympus� invokes a cultural memory of the Civil Rights Movement and the much sought after �mountaintop� of racial equality and recognition. In hip hop�s present moment, the mountaintop for many was being referenced/dismissed in Kendrick Lamar�s �Control� verse, which K.R.I.T. asserts does not faze him. How can he vie for a spot in a space that would not/could not vouch for his experience in hip hop? K.R.I.T.�s construction of his own hip hop Mount Olympus transcends the expectations placed upon him by other hip hop artists and fans that restricts his ability to lean on his own own creative devices. In this sense, K.R.I.T.�s muse is his southernness, more so his countryness, which by many is still perceived to be a hindrance to K.R.I.T.�s commercial success.

If �Mt. Olympus� is any reflection of K.R.I.T.�s upcoming album Cadillactica, I ain�t ready. You ain�t ready. He�s bringing southernness back one of its initial premises: if you ain�t from here don�t worry about it. Southern black folk are magic and got something to say about it.  Enjoy the ride.