Released November 11, 2014
Track Listing
- Kreation (Intro)
- Life
- My Sub, Pt. 3 (Big Bang)
- Cadillactica
- Soul Food feat. Raphael Saadiq
- Pay Attention feat. Rico Love
- King of the South
- Mind Control feat. E-40 & Wiz Khalifa
- Standby (Interlude) feat. Kenneth Whalum III
- Do You Love Me For Real feat. Mara Hruby
- Third Eye
- Mo Better Cool feat. Bun B, Devin The Dude & Big Sant
- Angels
- Saturdays = Celebration
- Lost Generation feat. Lupe Fiasco
Review
Cadillactica is Big K.R.I.T.’s second studio album under the Def Jam label. I’ve said before that people had criticized his first album, Live From The Underground, for not being better than his mixtape efforts. When I revisited the album, I noticed more anger and angst in that album that doesn’t exist in his other music. KRIT likes to use various jazz, blues, and soul samples that make his mixtapes stand out. He couldn’t use those same samples on the album cause when one sample is for a commercial release; people want their money. Those legal roadblocks inevitably alter the music. Not only did the music not sound like what he imagined it, but it had to bother KRIT in reworking those songs, thus explaining the anger.
Unfortunately, the 4EvaNaDay (pronounced Forever and a Day) mixtape was released a few months before his album. Normally, artists do that as a warm-up for the major release. 4EvaNaDay is still a quality project. I’ll go as far as saying it’s incredible work. When it came to the album, it coloured people’s perceptions of it. Instead of looking at the album’s merits, it was compared to the mixtape. In retrospect, I still enjoy listening to the album, but it does pale in comparison to not only 4EvaNaDay but the rest of his catalogue. 4Eva had that signature sound with the samples, he sounded at ease, and it also felt like a proper progression of his music and artistry.
Cadillactica is a huge step forward for the Mississippi rapper in every way, shape, and form. No other release came in the way for this album, so his attention wasn’t divided among multiple projects. He was able to better promote this album, most notably his Pay Attention tour. After releasing Mt. Olympus, he got a lot of buzz and press and rode that wave up to this album.
The album itself revolves around a loose but apparent concept. Cadillactica is a planet KRIT introduced from the first album. Throughout the album, he goes through the cycle of life on the planet, eventually destroying it at the end. It’s a clear progression in the album. The KRIT that we hear in the album’s early moments sounds different from the KRIT that ends it. Many modern-day releases are hit-and-miss regarding sequencing their tracks, but Cadillactica wouldn’t work as effectively if something was out of order.
A change in KRIT’s approach to music is that he allowed people to produce music for the album. Although he still handled most of the production, he had four songs produced by others and another he co-produced. One of them was the first single, Pay Attention featuring Rico Love. It’s an attempt for a larger KRIT presence in radio rotations. KRIT hasn’t sounded like this before, so it can be a bit jarring to hear him go down this route. By no means is it bad; it’s a serviceable song. In the scope of the album, it’s appropriate. He sounds more mature in this song than earlier in the album, which coincides with the concept of the cycle of life. The rest of the album is there to satisfy those worried that KRIT may have stretched himself and gone too far into trying for a pop hit.
The next song, King of the South, is KRIT back at the typical rap braggadocio, with a nice friendly jab at his label. One of my favourite songs on the album features his girlfriend, Mara Hruby. Although he is equating a car to a woman, the hook reveals that the car is asking him if he loves her, changing the song’s connotation just enough to keep it interesting. There is also good chemistry between the two on this song, leaving me hopeful they will do more work together in the future.
The album ends strongly on the Lupe Fiasco-assisted, Lost Generations. After seeing what Cadillactica had turned into, KRIT had seen enough and decided to leave it and end it. The verse Lupe performs acts as the voices of the planet, claiming they have a direction, but in reality, they are lost. It closes out the album, giving it a satisfying end.
Cadillactica doesn’t feature those soulful samples KRIT uses on his mixtapes, and it would’ve been interesting to hear how they would’ve been used. But unlike Live From The Underground, Cadillactica doesn’t suffer from it. It’s clear that KRIT learned from that experience and was able to balance the business with his music. Some may choose to ignore his first album, but without it, KRIT, in all likelihood, might not have done the great work he did here.
Welcome to Cadillactica.
