I'm thankful for all the support I've received over the years.
Big K.R.I.T.
I'll say one of my all time favorite albums would have to be Willie Hutch, 'The Mack.'
I always wanted to prove myself. I think I naturally can't help but want to do something and push the boundaries.
My music's gonna evolve as I get older.
I think if I wanted to get to a point where I could actually grow in my music, I had to almost step away from sampling so much and start making the kind of music that people wanted to sample.
There's no real network, and every city in Mississippi is so spread out, so it isn't easy to drive around and pass out CDs. So when an artist from Natchez or Gold Coast or Meridian breaks out, they already know exactly what kind of artist they want to be. The grind and the hustle is just so adamant.
I'm in competition with myself, and I'm always going to challenge myself.
A record like 'Price of Fame' - when you do get this success, how do you treat it, or how do you let it treat you? How does it affect your family and friends and the people around you? ... And I don't mind telling people what I've been through when it comes to the pressure I put on myself of wanting to be the best and the greatest.
To be able to work with Bun B and be able to have a conversation, and the insights the OG has, and really be able to get just advice from him, is amazing.
The things that I leave creatively are going to stay here long past me. That's the reason why the album is called '4Eva Is a Mighty Long Time.'
Musically, I'm always gonna take it a little farther, and Lord willing, people are gonna get that and understand that: that there's not really one genre I'm trying to be in, but just as a producer, as a writer, as an artist, that I'm planning on going farther.
Get to the point where the songs sum it all up, and creatively, I'm just like, 'This is it.' I've also learned how to be patient and not really try to overproduce anymore. I used to add instruments, keep adding instruments, but nowadays - I know better now. I know how to let the track breathe.
Everyone needs a lay-up at some point in life - just somebody to look out, something good to happen in your life to kind of push you forward.
With some of the samples that I chose to use, tracking down the person that owns the publishing has become a task.
If you goin' to work, you gonna put my album on. If you happen to be makin' an hour-and-a-half drive, you gonna put my album on, because people spend more time in their car then they do in clubs.
Where I'm from is humble, and people are mad appreciative of what they have.
People know, lyrically, I go in, and you should never take me lightly on any record.
It seems like music gets put in this hub where you have to rap about this, and the minute you do something else, it's like you changing. Nah, I'm being creative.
When you say, 'Man, what kind of music does Outkast make?' You be like, 'They make Outkast music.' What kind of music does N.E.R.D. make? They make N.E.R.D. music. I want to be one of those people, because there's so many layers to the music I create that I don't want people to expect me to do one thing.
Adele was introduced to me by a guitarist named Mike Hartnett that plays for a band called Rehab. We was just riding around, and he was like, 'Man have you heard this soul singer Adele?' and I was like 'Nah!' and we just rode to the whole CD, and it got to 'Hometown Glory,' and I was like, 'Man I have to sample that!'
It's so hard to make noise coming from a small town that by the time you start branding yourself, you've grown in a certain way.
In my house, I don't just always listen to rap.
Everyone should still want to put their music out because it's important that people still think that you are still willing to come to them. When you're dealing with the Internet, it's a 'come to me' situation. But when people see you out-and-about, promoting your merch and in the club, people enjoy that, too.
I would say when you're dealing with live musicians and musicality, the warmth of a live instrument brings a certain feel to a song that is really hard, sometimes, to get from synthesized instruments.
My music is definitely considered the kind of music you play in your car, that gets you from Point A to Point B. So, I understand how important it is to press up my music and give it out, hand-to-hand, just as much as it is to give it out on the Internet.
On 'Krit Wuz Here,' I had a record called 'Return Of 4eva' on it. And then that launched me into doing the actual 'Return Of 4eva' project, and 'Return Of 4eva' had a song called '4eva And A Day.' So it's like, all of my music has somehow tied into the entire story.
I have to feel like my grandmother was my first mix engineer.
I'm used to producing all of my projects, doing all the beats, and writing all the hooks.
People will reach out because they know I'm trying to put my best forward when it comes to subject matter and creation of song.
People don't necessarily expect singles from me. They expect full bodies of work.
We all wish we could stay with one franchise and it work out the way it work out but it doesn't necessarily work that way, but you've got to keep balling.
I think doing a record with B.B. King allowed me the opportunity to blend two different generations across the board and make a song that I hope is extremely impactful.
Favorite cereal is Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Sample clearances and roll-out plans is what separates mix-tapes & albums.
My grandmother introduced me to B.B. King. She wasn't someone who had a lot of posters, but there was a big poster of B.B. King on the wall as soon as you walked into her house in Meridian, Mississippi.
I don't think I'll ever become comfortable with just being here. I always want to take it further.
I always revisit duality because I think it's a conflict we all have. I think we all leave our house and go to work, and we put on the cape and become superheroes. That's what we do. It's how we move through life and handle negativity: you do everything you can to stay away from it.
I never lost my faith.
It's a lot of people that died for me to have the opportunity that I have now, just the freedom. It shouldn't be forgotten as far as the past is concerned.
Sometimes you think you didn't win, and you focus so much on that instead of really looking at it from the perspective of it not being your time yet.
I love tearing people's speakers up.
With music, it's a therapy for me. So whatever I'm dealing with at the time, I talk about it when I rap.
If I could have stayed independent from the jump, then, maybe, things would have been different. 'Return of 4Eva' would have been an album instead of a mixtape.
I think us, especially as black people, we don't necessarily talk about our feelings enough or talk to someone about our feelings.
Twenty-fourteen is all about growth musically and new agendas.
I learned a lot while working on 'Live From the Underground.'
I worked on 'Cadillactica' with the mind to not sample as much and focus on creativity.
Dealing with business and trying to create never mixes for me.
Success happened for me when I dropped my first major label album for Def Jam, 'Live From The Underground.'
You've got to keep being 100 percent, keep doing what's best for you and your legacy, and then build and help other people around you, too.
