Praying Man

Album: Live From The Underground (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • K.R.I.T collaborates with his personal hero, the blues legend B.B. King, on this soulful religious allegory. He told Artist Direct: "I got to actually sit in the studio with him. I didn't just send the record to him. It's him playing!"

    He added to MTV News correspondent Sway: "I think doing a record with B.B. King allowed me the opportunity to blend two different generations across the board and make a song that I hope is extremely impact."
  • The song finds K.R.I.T. rhyming from the perspective of three different slaves who are each facing death. He explained to The Boombox: "The first verse is about somebody that's hanging in the tree; someone that's already been lynched. The second verse is about a slave that jumped off the boat and the third verse is about somebody running from a lynch mob. The thing about the record is that all three of these people are dead and the praying man is coming to take them away from the situation. So when you listen to the record, you can kind of hear the atmosphere aspects, the wind blowing in the first verse, the water splashing in the second verse, the dogs and the horses, you can hear just all that happening in the third verse."
  • K.R.I.T told The Boombox this poignant story-driven rap reflects his own beliefs, as he's "definitely a God-fearing man" and "a praying man."
  • K.R.I.T. explained to MTV News that he felt it was his duty to tell such tales on Live From The Underground after hearing stories about the civil rights movement from his grandmother. "It's important that I talk about all that," he said. "It's a lot of people that died for me to have the opportunity that I have now, just the freedom. It shouldn't be forgotten as far as the past is concerned." His grandmother features on Live From The Underground's closing track singing some hymns.

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