Chaos reigns supreme
Toronto’s K-OS is one angry rapper
Something is brewing in the mind of up-and-coming Toronto artist K-OS. Infuriated by years of rump-shaking videos and nonsensical MCing, K-OS is trying to infuse hip-hop with a message again. Almost like a modern day Terry Callier or Gil Scott-Heron, K-OS wants to be heard, wants it to be known that he’s talking loud and saying something.
It’s his vision for change that motivates him to set himself apart from the herd of "jiggy mainstream" (his words) rappers. To do this, he’s taken the musical form and stripped it down to its bare elements – minimal production and a vocalist-rapper.
"I’m there, presenting this underground music so that mainstream people can get it, and then 'pow!' there I am rappin’."
His message is currently spread through a roots-based organic take on the genre that will, no doubt, endear K-OS to the multitudes of people who wouldn’t normally go out of their way to purchase a hip-hop album. With that in mind, the term ‘hip-hop’ should be used in the loosest sense when describing K-OS, as he has more in common with Ben Harper than he does with other rappers.
K-OS says he’s challenging the stereotypes that keep modern black music marginalized, and that keep the music in realm of the "jiggy" sycophants. Sentiments like this have been expressed by many notable black artists, from Miles Davis through to Chuck D, so K-OS is in good company, ideologically.
"People expect a black man to behave like they see in the videos," he says. "I call that the neo-black man, but when I come up and do a non-booty video with a message, they don’t know how to handle it."
Currently, K-OS and his music are far from the periphery. He’s enjoying a significant bubble of success with ample rotation on Much Music and has landed lucrative gigs across the country. He also has a recording contract with EMI.
This most recent success causes him to speculate on the nature of his message. Can success be an underground thing? Is his message "underground" if people hear it? It’s a question that isn't easily resolved, but as he sees it, the underground is a training ground to develop the message and eventually the mainstream will listen, incorporate it and acknowledge it.
With hip-hop outselling rock in many Canadian markets, the notion of an underground seems antiquated, a remnant of the early ’90s, a time before street gear was the rage with young suburbanites who had $200 to spend on a pair of runners. The term counterculture is much more suited to describe what K-OS is doing – delivering a message that is too often displaced by trends, but one that never disappears from the more cerebral elements of the music industry – those on the cutting edge. |
