“As K.R.I.T. works to survive the mainstream, he marks what buoys him, leaving a record for viewers and listeners to consult when they, too, might need to survive a flooded zone.”

The unknown underground artist. The Afrofuturist who transcends place and time. The brief skit at the end of the eponymous second track on Big K.R.I.T.’s 2012 Live from the Underground draws on and mixes all of these tropes as K.R.I.T. finds himself immersed in the mainstream. Often, the mainstream metaphor is a negative one, portrayed as drawing from the underground and washing away all that makes artists unique, churning out predictable, “watered down” hits for an undiscriminating public. So Mississippi native K.R.I.T. wades into dangerous waters when he enters the mainstream, which threatens irreversible transformation.