Last week, I traveled to Indiana for some shows. Through that trip, one person I met was Kris, aka $ir K. ReLyT. Near Ball State University in Muncie, IN, there’s a cool club called Be Here Now. On Tuesdays, the stage is open and you’ll find a good bit of hip-hop with a few guitar player/singers too. With those genres mixing, the vibe is cool, friendly, and supportive. I started talking with $ir K. ReLyT and made a connection. Click play on “Fully Aware” and read about this hip-hop artist.
Story Behind Fully Aware
The song “Fully Aware” was written in the summer of 2015 in one sitting, at the time I was signed to Not Only Street Records and my manager was hassling me to write and record 3 new songs on a very short deadline. I had first wrote “Was’ Hannin” and got a case of writer’s block, a few hours went by and the first few bars of “Fully Aware” came out of no where in my head, “fuck what a hater think/ throw em’ in a gator tank/” next thing I knew, I had locked myself in the extra bedroom and had written half way through the beat already and didn’t have a hook yet. In my mind I started thinking, “hmm… I’m fully aware of all the surrounding context, I’m fully aware of my schemes, and what I’m actually talking about, I don’t need a hook if it’s going to speak for itself to someone else, if it has that effect on me.”
So after the concept decision, I took that and felt the direction I should go in. By the end, I was sitting in the car practicing it acapella for hours, so the first time I rapped it to the beat, it fit perfectly to me. (Because I don’t write with a beat playing, I hear the beat, count the bars, then write in silence)
It was recorded with Audacity on a friends laptop with regular ass Samson Co3u. The song was released on all digital online retailers and is still available, along with the album, “ReVised” from which it was the single.
In 18 Years, ReLyT has performed over 490 shows, including performances with the well known Boogie from Dallas, Texas, and RoLya T from Anderson, Indiana.
In 2014, he auditioned for BET’s new Hip Hop Reality show, “One Shot” and blew judges away. (Which airs this summer.)
$ir K. ReLyT released 8 full-length albums, 14 mixtapes, and 6 singles in the span of his career. Along with getting his music in rotation on internet radio stations in France, The United Kingdom, West Africa, and Memphis, TN.
While being a very audible, visual, and hands on learner, he’s taken on the skills of a music industry professional. Specializing in social media marketing, branding, audio/ video production, distribution, graphic designing, booking, understanding royalties and percentages, and is paying very close attention his publisher/ mentor, Phil Duncan (CEO of Underground Railroad Entertainment Group/ WURE-FM; Memphis Don) to continue gaining the knowledge he’ll need for a successful career.
In 2016, he hitchhiked the coast of California spreading his music on his way to Los Angeles, while homeless the entire time for 9 months, he managed to book shows throughout the state, shoot a music video in Hollywood, become an inspiration to many homeless youth, and acquired many more industry connections, followers, and opportunities through ‘cardboard sign marketing’ on a regular basis. You can find a picture of $ir K. ReLyT’s tent on Sunset Blvd. with a letter to Slim written in sharpie on the side from when he opened up about his alter ego, $tan on Milloux Suicide’s instagram @millouxsuicide