— Arkansas’ Kari Faux recruits fellow southern lyricist Big K.R.I.T for her second single of the year, “TURNIN’ HEADS.”
Little Rock’s multidimensional artist Kari Faux shares her new single “TURNIN’ HEADS” featuring a verse from the legendary Mississippi rapper Big K.R.I.T. The new song pays homage to the southern rap Kari listened to while growing up in Arkansas laced with a funky bassline and cascading piano complimenting her and Big K.R.I.T.’s vocals. Coupled with the new track is the visualizer animated by McKay Felt — the creator of the cover artwork for both “TURNIN HEADS” and Kari’s previous single, “ME FIRST” — “TURNIN’ HEADS” provides a taste of a larger project from Kari to arrive later this year.
Speaking about the song and working with Big K.R.I.T., Kari notes,
“This song is a time machine that takes me back to growing up and living in the South. Just getting paid, hitting the town and seeing cars with candy paint and big rims and aspiring to have that one day for myself. It was an honor to have Big K.R.I.T. as a feature because he was one of the rappers that inspired me coming up and made me feel proud to be country.”
“TURNIN” HEADS” follows Kari’s first offering of 2023 “ME FIRST,” which premiered on COLORS last year and arrived with cheeky and meta visuals directed by Cam Robert. “ME FIRST” is produced by Grammy Award winning artist Phoelix, 2forwOyNE and Park Ave and was remixed by the producer, rapper, DJ and singer UNIIQU3, who brought some East Coast flavor to the track with her Jersey Club remix. Kari sat with PAPER to discuss “ME FIRST,” falling in love with making music again and the southern rappers who came before her.
Arriving on the scene in 2014 with her mixtape Laugh Now, Die Later, Kari has created her own lane of southern rap infused with psych, gospel, pop and hip hop weaved with her thoughtful and playful lyrics. In 2020, Kari released her praised mixtape Lowkey Superstar, which features the stand out tracks “LOOK AT THAT” and “CHATTIN’ SHIT.” The following year, Kari dropped Lowkey Superstar Deluxe, which Pitchfork described as a “fun-forward mixtape exud[ing] color and energy“ and enlisted assistance from friends and artists like Baby Tate, Smino, JID, Jazz Cartier and Deante’ Hitchcock.
Check out “TURNIN’ HEADS” featuring Big K.R.I.T. above and stay tuned for more from Kari Faux coming very soon.