National Post - He Knows Who He Is, And So Should You;
Why Shad K is Canada’s Best Rapper
When Shad K last performed in Toronto, there was a moment when the audience went silent.
"I'd never seen anything like it," says Ty Harper, producer and host of Flow 93.5's OTA Live, who picked Shad's The Old Prince as 2007's record of the year. "He has the confidence you expect from a rap artist, that swagger, but it's mixed with humility. There were 400 people at the Mod Club and no bar chatter --just 400 people waiting to hear what else Shad would say."
He was born Shadrach Kabango in Kenya to Rwandan parents, who soon after moved to London, Ont., where his mom worked as a hospital lab technician and his dad as a machinist.
"London is pretty much where I call home," says Shad, 25, on the phone from Vancouver, where he studies humanities at the University of British Columbia and yesterday began his cross-Canada tour with Halifax rapper Classified. "My family was always connected to Africa, but I grew up on MuchMusic and liked Hayden in junior high."
While he was completing his business administration degree at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., his sister sent his demo tape to a talent competition at a radio show. It was his 22nd birthday, and entering him was his older sister Charity's gift. "I wasn't really one for putting my music out there, but at that point, I was excited to give it a shot," he says. He wound up making it to the finals of the contest. For his last song, he brought up his guitar, which, like his amazing ability to freestyle [see sidebar on Page AL4], has be-come a staple of his live show.
"We were just having fun," he says. "I didn't expect to win, but I realized how much I enjoyed being onstage."
Shad would go on to win the contest, earn $17,500 to record his well-reviewed 2005 debut record, When This is Over and open concerts for Common and Lupe Fiasco. But it was hearing his mother recite a poem at a rally for Rwanda that same year that pushed him to take his music to a more personal place.
"To hear my mother be so candid and talk about her loss made me become a lot more passionate about expressing myself through music. I got a lot more interested in putting out my own ideas," Shad says.
When it came time to record The Old Prince, along with playing piano, guitar, drums and bass, Shad also told autobiographical tales of being stingy and living at home -- he raps the second half of one song a capella because, he jokes on the track, he couldn't afford the second half of the beat -- with ballads about growing up black in a mostly white area and his feelings for Africa, genocide and the difficulties he has finding "a Claire Huxtable" of his own.
"I think where he's from makes him a bit different," Shad's mother, Bernadette Kabango, says over the phone from Rwanda, where she relocated this year to head up a needle exchange. "His world isn't as narrow and money-driven as it is for most people. Maybe the word is humble. He knows who he is and doesn't feel like he needs to copy or follow trends."
His approach definitely seems to be working. CBC Radio 3 called 2007 "Year of the Shad," and now, the MC studying David Hume and Descartes says he's closely following the elections in Kenya and hoping to communicate some of that with his growing crowds.
"Performing live is the most immediate way to connect with people," he says. "If you're upfront with what you're saying, you might as well be up there and let everyone know what you think."
-For more on Shad K, The Old Prince and his cross-Canada tour dates with Classified, visit shadk.com.
THE ART OF THE FREESTYLE:
Five Tips for Impressing Your Friends by Shad K
1 Don't over-think: It's a free-form of expression so just let it out. It's more fresh and musical that way.
2 If you're freestyling with friends or other emcees, don't rap for too long. Don't be that guy.
3 Learn from the creativity of guys like Eminem about putting words together: Content aside, rhyming things like -- storage booth, orange juice, kick the door hinge loose and rip out the four-inch screws -- that's what we call rhyme-skill. The more creative you can be with your rhyming, the better.
4 I don't advise using a rhyming dictionary -- it takes some of the fun out -- but try to remember interesting words and rhymes you come across in the everyday and use those.
5 Don't switch your style up: It will just mess up your ability to think fast. Spit the way that comes natural to you and the ideas will flow better.
Author: Ben Kaplan
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
