Big K.R.I.T recently spoke on why he was a singer before becoming a rapper. Hit the jump to find out why.

Melissa Nash

“They just want to know, Krizzo, can you sing?” That’s the question Big K.R.I.T posed on “Sky Club” from his popular mixtape 4Eva N A Day. A better question: K.R.I.T., why do you sing? The Mississippi rapper recently explained that he had no choice in the matter.

“The reason I started singing is because, Lord knows, I couldn’t get anybody to sing on my hooks,” he told CBS Local. “Obviously, people wasn’t too horrified with my voice.”

On “Free My Soul,” from Return of 4Eva, he sang his heart out. Likewise, he flowed on “Moon and Stars,” “The Vent” and more. But he first lifted his voice as a young boy in church singing in the choir.

“I never was like, ‘I want to be an R&B singer,” he said. “But everybody sung in church. And whether you can sing or not, you might have had that solo at Christmas. My gradmother made sure we sung in the choir. All of that helped now in my music.”

What songs did little K.R.I.T. sing in the pew?

“I sung ‘Silver and Gold’ [but] the records that brought the house down was ‘No Weapon,’ ‘Amazing Grace,’ and ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ if you was the youngest kid in the church.”

K.R.I.T.’s vocal skills can be heard on his debut album Live From The Underground, which is out now. See the full K.R.I.T. interview below. –Erik Parker, CBS Local