In 2018, Big K.R.I.T. has been playing it more low key than usual. He had a musical supervisor’s role on Bun B’s Return Of The Trill album, while also providing some heavy vocals in spots. Earlier in the year, the MC/producer also teamed with DJ Premier and Royce 5’9, care of PRhyme’s “Made Man.” Still, for the artist who made Ambrosia For Heads readers’ “Best Album Of 2017” (thanks to 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time) K.R.I.T. was more off of the musical grid than usual. Today (November 16), he has changed that in a big way. Almost exactly a year after 2017’s offering, Krizzle hits Heads off with with a three-song EP, THRICE X. There are less than 10 minutes of music in the three-song offering, but it is all about quality—which is evident. The production here (care of K.R.I.T. on “Higher” and “Glorious”) has contemporary drums but still maintains that slow and deliberate bounce. Big K.R.I.T.’s 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time Is Your Best Rap Album Of 2017. K.R.I.T. Speaks THRICE X as an audio playlist:

The opening track,“Higher (King Pt. 6),” seems to be somewhere between a prayer and an exploration of the word “God.” For the sake of being thorough, the initial installments in this series of royal raps are: “King” from 2008’s See Me On Top III, “King’s Blues” from 2011’s ReturnOf4Eva, “King Without A Crown” from 2013’s King Remembered In Time, “King Of The South” on 2014’s Cadillactica, and “King Pt. 4” from 2015’s It’s Better This Way. Part 4 seems actually to be Part 5, but we’re not going to question this Meridian monarch. “(My God) If I cry tears, am I less of a man? / (Whoa, God) My father never did, so his blood pressure / (Higher) Than mine, I pray he find / (The power) To shed tears for me / (The power) To accept these gifts from me / (The power) The jewels that he did give me / (Much higher) Worth more than diamonds and chains and Rollies / (Found God) In the Good Book at a hotel / (My God) I don’t really know her, but I know it well,” he raps, blending praise with real-life circumstances. Bun B, T.I. & Big K.R.I.T. Are 3 Southern Rap Kings & You Better Recognize (Video) Second up is “Glorious,” where he explains that everybody wants a piece of him these days. Instead of seeing the situation with Def Jam as a negative, on the hook here he talks about “[getting] up out that deal.” It’s hard not to feel the triumph when he proclaims, “Life of a loner / Keep it ridin’ like Winona / Sittin’ on chrome / Ignorin’ my phone / Like where were they when I was homeless / Now I got whip appeal / Now I got chips to deal.” On the last joint (produced by Supah Mario), “Look What I Got,” the rapper formerly known as Kritikal is bragging about what he has earned, while also talking about what it took to get it. He talks about the years of grinding it took just to get a shot, and then the years of grinding after that to get to the top.

Source: AmbrosiaForHeads.com