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 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]
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]
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