Big K.R.I.T. “REM” Presentation Outline

1. Introduction to Big K.R.I.T.
   1. He was born Justin Scott in 1986 in Meridian, Mississippi.
   2. He began to have success in rap around 2010.
   3. He produces almost all of the songs he raps on, by himself
   4. He is signed to Cinematic music group, which is a part of Def Jam
   5. His music falls under the same dirty south rap music as Ludacris’ music, which my last presentation was on.
2. General information on the song “REM.”
   1. It is featured on KRIT’s 2013 mixtape “King Remembered in Time.”
   2. “REM” stands for “Rendom Eye Movement” which is the deepest part of the sleep cycle and is also when people tend to dream the most.
   3. It is a short song, less than three minutes long.
3. Explain the sounds in the song “REM” and how they contribute to the overall theme of dreams and sleep.
   1. There are 5 layers, and they are vocals, percussion, bass guitar, piano, and electronic noises.
   2. The melody is provided through the piano, bass guitar, and electronic noises.
   3. The electronic noises mainly seem like a tapping that is muffled to seem far away, or like you are hearing it in your sleep, similar to the vocals in the chorus.
   4. All parts of the music have a slower rhythm except the piano.
   5. All parts of the music are low in pitch except the chorus vocals and the piano.
   6. Many of the sounds such as the chorus vocals seem to be almost muffled through a computer filter which helps to provide the allusion that they are outside sounds you are hearing as you sleep in a less deep state of sleep.
   7. The piano scales in the chorus quickly change pitch and get lower and lower as the vocalist in the chorus repeats the word falling to add the illusion of falling into the music.
   8. The percussion is used to keep the beat going and provide a constant rhythm, and is used in a slower, not overly loud way so as to not disturb the low, peaceful, dreamy vibe that has been created for the song.
4. Explain the lyrical content of the song “REM.’
   1. The song opens with the chorus, which is about dreams and ends with repetition of the word falling which creates the illusion one is falling and immediately wakes up from the dream for the verses.
   2. The vocals are low in pitch and not fast in pace.
   3. The verses are very personal, conveying many of K.R.I.T.’s thoughts through first person narration.
      1. He speculates on the success of his first album, success, and his drive for success amongst other things.
      2. A very interesting sequence of lines is “Jiggaboos’ll minstrel you, but never me/ blackface my black face could never be.” That contains many literary devices such as a number of types of rhyme and repetition, along with heavy allusions to minstrelsy and rap being modern day minstrelsy.
   4. In the second line KRIT asks if his first album was “a dream or a nightmare,” which follows the dream/sleep motif that has been created.
   5. Overall, the lyrics are about not compromising personal values for money/success and the idea that he can be successful and change the world by making art that is true to himself, which to some extent he has done. This is evidenced in lines such as:
      1. “The revolution of minds will never televise” which doubles as a Gil Scott-Heron reference while talking about what KRIT hopes to spark.
      2. “I don’t know about my dreams/ cuz I’m more spiritual than lyrical.”
         1. Which means I care more about vibes and ideas than words.
      3. “I refuse to give up what I started/For false awards and cover boards in every store.”
         1. Which means I won’t sell out to make extra money.
         2. There is great alliteration, rhyme, and assonance in that line, which leads to a flow smooth enough that it could be a dream because the mind works in a fluid way.
      4. “Fuck a reality show, I’d rather do a tour.”
         1. Which means I want to do something meaningful to me over making money.
      5. “Remember me as just a visionary/I’m more Geronimo Pratt than OG Bobby”
         1. I am a visionary and am closer to a civil rights activist/black panther member than the drug dealer stereotype that rappers and more widely black men are viewed under today.
   6. Each verse ends with the word dreams.
   7. The second verse starts with the phrase from the chorus “I don’t know about my dreams”
   8. Song ends with the line “Too scared to go to sleep, cuz most times I often doubt my dreams”
5. As a whole, this is a candid song about aspirations, one’s ability to reach them, and the way one can reach them, which is all discussed through the motif of dreams; which double as aspirations and something your mind does when it sleeps, both of which are elaborated on and created by the music and lyrics.