4. Big K.R.I.T. – Cadillactica
Released: November 10, 2014 ~ Reviewed: November 19, 2014 (Rated 5 out of 5 Stars)
Let me pull back the curtain a little bit for you guys. I personally asked the boss man B-Easy if I could review this album. The album came out November 11th and I told him I’d have it to him by the 13th. This review is being posted on Wednesday November 19th. I missed my deadline.
I didn’t want to turn this review in. If you actually read this review in it’s entirety then you know I really enjoyed the album. A LOT. A lot of folks give the current music scene a hard time because most of these guys get by on hot beats and hooks that make good punch lines for Vine videos. I actually like a lot of that stuff because I find it funny. The beats move me and I’m entertained.
Yet I’m entertained in a way that’s the same as watching a funny movie. Not in an artistic sense. When I played Cadillactica I was moved. I got chills when I heard K.R.I.T. kill the title track. This is the feelings that old head Hip-Hop purists talk about not being evident in today’s crop of (mostly) here today, gone tomorrow rappers.
I struggled with grading this album. Was it really THAT good, or was I being biased? I know we have a tendency to throw around the term classic or 5 star because we want to validate our love or like for something. To be sure, it’s okay to like something and for something to have merit, yet it not be a classic.
However, when I looked up the word classic in the dictionary (cliché, I know) the definition that stood out the most was enduring. If 100 years from know aliens haven’t taken over and wiped out every trace of our existence you could look back to this album as a standard, not only for a Southern Rap album, but a Hip-Hop album. It’s not bloated with filler, there aren’t a million guest rappers on it, and K.R.I.T. doesn’t take a break and delivers on every song. Even if you’re not a fan of K.R.I.T., (and this album may or may not make you a fan) if you gave it an honest spin you wouldn’t be able to deny him. K.R.I.T’s blood, sweat, and tears beat through this album almost as hard as the 808s and high-hats. And for that…I give Cadillactica nappyafro’s third classic rating. – GQ-Blu