For decades, recording artists have experienced the financial pitfalls of the music industry. Unfavorable record deals, excessive legal fees, or unanticipated personal debt is too often part of a performer’s life story. Big K.R.I.T. believes it is now time for his peers to come together to form a trade union.
The Mississippi-bred emcee/producer joined Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1 to talk about his new Digital Roses Don’t Die album. The discussion also included Big K.R.I.T. laying out his reasoning for why rappers need to unionize.
“We were talking about a union before we got on this show. And I was like, ‘Musicians have a union, most people have a union, why artists don’t have a union?’ I see mad artists, they go through the process. They either have a hit record or they don’t. They get signed, they get dropped,” Big K.R.I.T. told Ebro Darden.
The 35-year-old southerner continued, “They break down, they get on drugs, they go to the streets. But there’s no collective to call and be like, ‘Hey, man. I need to go to rehab. Hey, man. I need help with these bills. I acquired too much. What’s a good lawyer I can go to? What is the deal I signed?'”
Big K.R.I.T. also added, “And so I think we’re at a point now with all this information we have, and you got artists that I know made millions of dollars off of their deals, which I didn’t, but even they don’t want to be where they’re signed to. So who do you talk to? How many people do you put together? How much money do you pay a month to unlock that information with OGs and we all can connect?”
Big K.R.I.T. Left Def Jam Six Years Ago
Before releasing projects like 2017’s 4eva Is a Mighty Long Time and 2022’s Digital Roses Don’t Die through his own Multi Alumni company, Big K.R.I.T. dropped two studio LPs while signed with Def Jam Recordings. The 2011 XXL Freshman parted ways with the Def Jam label in 2016.
“They left me in the dungeon as a dragon. It was cool,” stated Big K.R.I.T. about his time with Def Jam during an October 2016 interview with The Breakfast Club. “They just forgot about me, so I crept up out that thing. And I’m free.”
Another Big K.R.I.T. Project Is On The Way
Big K.R.I.T. is also teaming up with Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, and Girl Talk for a forthcoming project titled Full Court Press. That collaborative effort will be streamable on DSPs beginning April 8 via Asylum/Taylor Gang.
“We did these records in 2019. The world was very much open. And flew out to L.A. All of us have separately worked with Girl Talk and the homie’s an amazing DJ and producer. And so he had records of us on our own time. And then it was just this thing like, ‘Bro, let’s all get together and work one day,'” stated Big K.R.I.T. while appearing on Apple Music 1.
