Big K.R.I.T.: Live from the Underground San Francisco July 20, 2012

Not gonna lie, I wasn't 100% excited about this show for the simple fact that I did not do my homework.
Usually I give myself about 1 week minimum to listen to an artist's work whose show I will attend; I have Big K.R.I.T.'s previous albums in my iPod, but did't have "Live from the Underground" nor did I take the time out to listen to the tracks. Definitely my loss, I wished so badly that I knew the words to all his songs. K.R.I.T. brought it fa sure!

Got in line, wasn't early enough to be first...I was about 10th in line. I was surprised to see the tour bus parked right in front of the venue like nobody's business; artists with the amount hype that K.R.I.T. has like to hide out & stay a good distance away from the fans. I kept seeing Big Sant & Tito Lopez going in & out of the condensation-filled tour bus (lots of water in the inside of the windows lol). Then Big K.R.I.T. came out of the venue, having finished his sound check session. I was too busy talking to my friend, then I hear the guys next to me getting hyped up, and in the calmest manner ever I say, "Oh look, it's Big K.R.I.T." They're next to him taking pix with him, and one kid even got to go inside and chill with the Live from the Underground crew. I wish I would've taken advantage & taken a picture with K.R.I.T., but I didn't want to pester the man.

2 hours of waiting in line, we finally go through security & get in! Front row, lucky me. I swear to you, I was the TINIEST person in that whole room full of people! I mean, this photo says it all, all you see is my little peanut head on the left side (next to dude with the white tee):

(Photo Credit: luxurymindz)

Waiting time wasn't too bad, music was good: a mix of Southern rap & Bay Area hip hop. There was a screen blocking the audience from the view of the stage, but since I'm so little & in the front, I was able to see the stage.

Finally, announcer comes in & Big Sant hits the stage!

And just so EVERYONE knows, it isn't pronounced SAINT or SANT (like Santa), it's pronounced SAWNT...he wanted this to be clear to the audience & encouraged us to spread the word lol. He didn't have a project out, so he did a variety of his versese off of different tracks he was on. He had good energy for sure, confident in his performing skills & had a good, loud, clear voice forcing you to hear what he had to say.

Big Sant was on for a good 30 minutes, not too long. My favorite thing about this show was that the in-between waiting time from act to act was so short, about 10 minutes tops. 

I then see this kid with some bad ass Busta Rhymes in Tribe's "Scenario" video-looking hair; he was the DJ for the next act, which made me happy...closer to K.R.I.T. hitting the stage. Screen goes up, DJ starts playing the track, kid named Mike Hurtt hits the stage (trying to tell his DJ to cut the track for some reason, but goes with it), about to go on beast mode, but then stumbles upon his words & has the DJ start the track over.

That definitely put a damper on his confidence, I could tell he had that on his mind the whole performance & wasn't performing as strong as I knew he could've. What I liked about Mike Hurtt (the Brooklyn based rapper formerly know as Mike Jaggerr) was that he took the time out to teach the audeince the words to his hooks, making it easier to get into his performance. What I didn't like was that he would stop feeling the beat (probably because he felt the audience was into it) & would tell his DJ to cut it & change it to the next track; that was my problem with Shark Sinatra during the Ab-Soul show in Oakland, if you're not feeling what you're doing, no one will. Fortunately for Mike, he was actually good so it wasn't all going down hill.

My advice to Mike: never give up on your performance. If the audience is cold, still act like you hot shit, it makes you & your performance look good. Don't give up on yourself, don't ask your DJ out loud through the mic to change the track; basically, go hard or go home & don't give up on your performance. You have good material & I liked that Biggie glasses/hat combo you had going on.

Next to hit the stage was Tito Lopez, "the black guy with the Spanish name," as he said lol.

He was by far my favorite opening act. His lyrics were on point, & he announced that this was his first time ever in San Francisco. I appreciate him repping San Francisco; I noticed his black & orange Rebel 8 hat (SF based brand) & his Giants-colored Air Forces :-) Left a good impression on me with that, on top of the music being good. My favorite thing about what he was wearing that night was this Abraham Lincoln "Dead Presidents" tee!! My friend noticed it; I want one fa sure.

He is smart on many levels. Good performance, & all the songs he performed were off of his "The Hunger Game" mixtape (which you can cop here: Tito Lopez-The Hunger Game); the reason he is smart is because for people like me who were feeling what he had to say, his vibe, & his good stage presence, he had physical copies of "The Hunger Game" handed out to those who were waiting in line outside, along with a "Tito Lopez" face towel. The smart thing about him handing out those face towels was that people who were digging his performance were holding those up, hyping him up more & resulting him getting more into his performance.

I swear, Tito should've been the last opening act before K.R.I.T. came out to do his thing, but since Casey Veggies had a bit more of a fan base, he was next to hit the stage.

This performance was not my favorite for many reasons: the girl all peacocked out on the side rolling a blunt acting as a stage ornament (she's beautiful, but she's a person, not an object), the constant use of the word "swag", one of his boys handing out flyers to the female audience members ONLY for the after party, & the pushy ass fan boys clocking bitches to touch their favorite rapper's hand. I've came across worst, but it was a nuisance...at least he had good beats, though. He's not bad, he just not my personal cup of tea...I'm not into that whole "Swag" hype. Also, I understand there are girls who let themselves be disrespected, but I fa sure am not one of them. I'm glad the audience was not full of annoying ass pervs like the ones at the Ab-Soul show in San Diego (a dude there grabbed my ass & I was ready to uppercut that focker).

My energy level went down a bit after that performance. Tito had gotten my energy level on full blast, & Casey's put it down 2 notches. But I was ready once I saw them getting the stage ready for K.R.I.T. K.R.I.T.!

The internal drums of our heart beats filled with excitement & adrenalin were rolling, the announcer came out asking if we were ready, we yell "HELL YEAH", K.R.I.T. comes out full of energy!!

The man is such an amazing performer. The whole time, he was jumping, hyping the audience up, body full of sweat...the sign that he was physically & energy-wise giving his ALL. I could tell he really appreciate the love San Francisco/the Bay had for him, and for this, he was giving the performance of his life, as if it were his last. Hit after hit, he was spewing out amazing performances. He did many medlies, which I recorded, but since his music is super bass heavy, the sound filter in my camera wasn't able to handle it. I, fortunately, had ONE decent video; luckily, it was the one where he's all up on my camera during "Moon & Stars" :-) (sound is still shotty, but it's tolerable)

There was one point towards the end where K.R.I.T. got so caught up in the moment (and I felt it in the energy that it was coming) that he stage dove to the guys RIGHT behind me. K.R.I.T. was nice enough not to kick my head lol. Live, LIVE show fa sure.

K.R.I.T. went from stage right to stage left, showing every single audience member in the from row some love. Right when he got to my side (stage left), he gave everyone love, and I look up to him reaching for a hand touch, but instead, unfortunately for me, I got a drop of sweat from Big K.R.I.T.'s chin into my MOUTH!! Lord, I wanted to wash it off baddly, but I was able to whipe it off lol. And K.R.I.T. saw that drop fall into my mouth & I could see the awkard look in his eyes, he just left right after that happened haha. Oh well, that's definitely one for the books.

Great show. If there is a stop in your town, GO! I am definitely going to the next show K.R.I.T. has, he was so so so good!! I appreciate him as an artist, even more as a well mannered person.

Big Sant's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BIGSANT

Mike Hurtt/Mike Jaggerr's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MIKEGHURTT

Tito Lopez's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/realtitolopez

Casey Veggie's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CaseyVeggies

Big K.R.I.T.'s Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BIGKRIT