Live from the Underground

Live from the Underground is the debut studio album by American rapper and record producer Big K.R.I.T. It was released on June 5, 2012, by Cinematic Music Group and Def Jam Recordings.^[1] As one of the executive producers on the album, Big K.R.I.T. did the production work for the entirety of the project. The album was supported by four singles: "Money on the Floor", "I Got This", "Yeah Dat's Me" and "What U Mean".

Live from the Underground
Studio album by Big K.R.I.T.
Released	June 5, 2012
Recorded	2010–2012
Genre	Hip hop
Length	58:28
Label	Cinematic Def Jam
Producer	Big K.R.I.T. (also exec.) Sha Money XL (exec.)
Big K.R.I.T. chronology
4eva N a Day (2012) Live from the Underground (2012) King Remembered in Time (2013)
Singles from Live from the Underground
"Money on the Floor" Released: October 24, 2011 "I Got This" Released: March 21, 2012 "Yeah Dat's Me" Released: May 20, 2012 "What U Mean" Released: July 29, 2012

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.8/10[2]
Metacritic	78/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllHipHop	8.5/10[4]
AllMusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	B−[6]
Consequence of Sound	C+[7]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Spin	8/10[10]
Sputnikmusic	3/5[11]
XXL	4/5[12]

Live from the Underground received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 23 reviews.^[3]

Adam Fleischer of XXL praised Big K.R.I.T. for maintaining his "traditionalist Southern aesthetic" and "nuanced sociopolitical themes" from his mixtapes and giving the tracks "a grounded sonic variety" of "sounds [are] individually diverse but complementary on the whole", concluding that: "In a time of formulaic approaches to club and radio hits, Big K.R.I.T. is navigating a space of bluesy Southern hip-hop like no artist in recent memory. With Live from the Underground, through deeply authentic takes on his own life and surroundings, the 2011 XXL Freshman has found a way to create some of the most resonating, least selfish rap music around."^[12] Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly wrote that: "With its feral lyrical hunger and playful production, Live From the Underground is the best distillation of the South since OutKast's rule-rewriting heyday."^[8] AllMusic's David Jeffries gave praise to K.R.I.T. for "keeping quality control at top level" on his debut album by crafting "impeccable" beats and having a "precise and commanding" flow that sells "his exploration of major-label life ("I Got This", "My Sub")" while also delivering "some surprising pop experiments ("If I Fall", "Praying Man"), concluding that: "Live from the Underground winds up both an easy introduction to the man's talents and a crowd-pleasing effort with no stale sell-out aftertaste. He could have gone deeper, but this is certainly deep enough."^[5]

Spin named Live from the Underground the eleventh best hip hop album of 2012.^[13]

Commercial performance

Live from the Underground debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 41,000 copies in the United States.^[14] As of August 2012, the album sold 83,000 copies in the United States.^[15]

Track listing

• All tracks produced by Big K.R.I.T.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"LFU300MA (Intro)"	Justin Scott	2:13
2.	"Live from the Underground"	Scott	3:40
3.	"Cool 2 Be Southern"	Scott	3:22
4.	"I Got This"	Scott Willie Hutch	3:22
5.	"Money on the Floor" (featuring 8Ball & MJG and 2 Chainz)	Scott Premro Smith Marlon Goodwin Tauheed Epps	4:07
6.	"What U Mean" (featuring Ludacris)	Scott Christopher Bridges	3:56
7.	"My Sub (Pt. 2: The Jackin')"	Scott	4:11
8.	"Don't Let Me Down"	Scott	2:57
9.	"Porchlight" (featuring Anthony Hamilton)	Scott Anthony Hamilton Ronald LaPread Lionel Richie	3:48
10.	"Pull Up" (featuring Big Sant and Bun B)	Scott Bernard Freeman Santiaugo "Big Sant" Gathright	4:01
11.	"Yeah Dat's Me"	Scott Bobby Womack	3:25
12.	"Hydroplaning" (featuring Devin the Dude)	Scott Devin Copeland	4:01
13.	"If I Fall" (featuring Melanie Fiona)	Scott	2:56
14.	"Rich Dad, Poor Dad"	Scott	3:06
15.	"Praying Man" (featuring B.B. King)	Scott	4:21
16.	"Live from the Underground (Reprise)" (featuring Ms. Linnie)	Scott	4:53
Total length:			58:28

Personnel

Credits for Live from the Underground adapted from AllMusic.^[16]

2 Chainz – vocals 8Ball – vocals Ian Allen – music business affairs Eric Bailey – art direction, design, illustrations Chris Bellman – mastering Big K.R.I.T. – engineer, mixing, primary artist, producer Big Sant – vocals Eric Bisgyer – assistant engineer C. Bridges (Ludacris) – composer, vocals Mike Brown – vocal engineer Leesa D. Brunson – A&R Ralph Cacciurri – engineer, mixing D. Copeland (Devin the Dude) – composer, vocals Vol S. Davis III – music business affairs Steven Defino – design producer Andre Drizza – engineer Chris Ebbert – assistant Alex Eremin – assistant engineer Tasha Evans – vocals (background) Melanie Fiona – vocals B. Freeman (Bun B) – composer, vocals M. Goodwin (MJG) – composer, vocals Tina Guo – cello Anthony Hamilton – vocals Keyon Harrold – flugelhorn, horn arrangements, trumpet Mike Hartnett – bass, guitar

Tony Hightower – vocals (background) Crystal Holy – vocals (background) Billy Hume – engineer, guitar, mixing W. Hutch – composer Marjoriea Jacobs – vocals (background) James Kang – assistant engineer Martin Kearns – keyboards Brian Kee – assistant engineer B.B. King – vocals, guitar Jason Kingsland – engineer Tai Linzie – art producer Ms. Linnie – vocals Pat Postlewait – bass L. Richie – composer Tacara Roberts – vocals Kathy Rodriguez-Harrold – horn arrangements, sax (alto), sax (tenor) Sha Money XL – A&R, executive producer Jonny Shipes – A&R, executive producer DJ Wally Sparks – A&R, scratching, vocals Steve-O – marketing Mark Tavern – A&R Antoinette Trotman – music business affairs Va$htie – vocals Lamar Williams – vocals (background) Tom Wolf – harmonica Nicole Wyskoarko – music business affairs

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2012) Peak position US Billboard 200[17] 5 US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[18] 1 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[19] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2012) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[20] 62

References

1. "Live From The Underground / [Explicit]: Big Krit: Music". Amazon. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
2. "Live From The Underground by Big K.R.I.T. reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
3. "Live from the Underground by Big K.R.I.T. Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
4. K1ng Eljay (June 4, 2012). "Album Review: Big K.R.I.T's "Live From The Underground"". AllHipHop. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. Jeffries, David. "Live from the Underground – Big K.R.I.T." AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
6. Rytlewski, Evan (June 5, 2012). "Big K.R.I.T.: Live From The Underground". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
7. "Album Review: Big K.R.I.T. – Live from the Underground". Consequence of Sound. June 8, 2012. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
8. Anderson, Kyle (May 23, 2012). "Live From the Underground review – Big K.R.I.T. Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
9. Dolan, Jon (June 5, 2012). "Live From the Underground". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
10. Reeves, Mosi. "Big K.R.I.T., 'Live From the Underground' (Island Def Jam)". Spin. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
11. "Big K.R.I.T. – Live From The Underground (staff review)". Sputnikmusic. June 22, 2012. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
12. Fleischer, Adam (June 5, 2012). "Big K.R.I.T., Live From The Underground". XXL. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
13. Spin Staff (December 11, 2012). "Big K.R.I.T. – Live From the Underground (Def Jam) – Spin's 40 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2012". Spin. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
14. Jacobs, Allen (June 13, 2012). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 6/10/2012". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
15. Paine, Jake (August 15, 2012). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 8/12/2012". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
16. "Live from the Underground – Big K.R.I.T." AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
17. "Big K.R.I.T. Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
18. "Big K.R.I.T. Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
19. "Big K.R.I.T. Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
20. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2012". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.