"If you're lookin' for a Southern country bumpkin, let me be it," Meridian, Mississippi, rapper-producer Big K.R.I.T. proclaims on his major-label debut. As on his mixtapes, this lovable throwback evokes his down-home life and day-to-day grind over the playacadillistic grooves of vintage Outkast and UGK. But his retro vision is wide; B.B. King appears on the politically minded "Praying Man," and the melody of "Don't Let Me Down" recalls the Beatles track of the same name. K.R.I.T. isn't flashy, but his spry, liquid verses are full of empathy, even for the haters: "It's hard to celebrate for others when you're dying poor." His underground is open to everyone.

Listen to 'Live From the Underground':

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• Photos: Random Notes

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.