‘I don’t front like I’m a gangster and live some crazy-ass exciting life’ — Classified spits rhymes for the everyman

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Classified with Chad Hatcher, Mic Boyd, J-Bru & DJ IV
Whiskey
Thursday, April 30 - Thursday, April 30

More in: Dance / DJ / Electronic

Nova Scotia’s Classifed (a.k.a. Luke Boyd) is a seasoned master in the art of modern-day storytelling. The unpretentious rapper has hit his stride on his 13th album, Self Explanatory. Boyd’s rhymes portray an ongoing narrative throughout the album, citing various pop culture references and allowing listeners to decide the track listing with “choose-your-own-adventure” interludes. The album is an audio time capsule of everyday events, following what the MC says is a longstanding tradition in his genre.

“I think that’s how hip hop started,” says Boyd. “You always had the battle MCs and stuff, but I think, for me, it was about the storytellers, like Biggie. At the same time, it’s something you don’t hear as much in mainstream [hip hop] and the media because there are just a lot of generic songs. It’s there if you’re willing to look for it. It gives me something to talk about, to tell stories, because I don’t front like I’m a gangster and live some crazy-ass exciting life. I’m a regular guy who lives a normal life. We all go through that, so if you can tell the story from that point of view, I think people can relate to that.”

Boyd embraces this down-to-earth perspective not only with his music, but in how he’s managed his extensive career. After producing most of his albums using his self-taught ingenuity and help from family and friends — he collaborates with his brother Mic Boyd on a couple of tracks on each record — he signed an increasingly rare artist-friendly deal with Sony. The label agreed to take on publicity while Boyd handles publishing and maintains the rights to half of his masters.

“You hear the horror stories about signing to a major, and they say you can do what you want to do, and then the music changes, etc.,” he says. “The first thing I said was that I wanted to make the record I wanted to make and not have to worry about getting the ‘OK’ from so-and-so.”

Though he talks about his success matter-of-factly, Boyd acknowledges that it’s a tough world for an up-and-coming Canadian MC. He says it’s easy to get lost in the technicalities of getting music out to the masses.

“I think the Canadian hip hop industry overall is just in need of help,” Boyd notes. “Don’t get me wrong — the scene is great and there are people making great music all over the country, but there are no managers and there’s no formula [for promotion] when a hip hop record comes out in Canada that shows artists what to do, like [with] a Nickelback record.”

Boyd’s extensive knowledge and experience of the Canadian scene provided a frame of reference when he toured Europe with D12 a few weeks ago, making for a refreshing experience for his crew.

“It was like playing Canada five years ago, really grassroots,” he recalls. “There were a couple of people who knew who we were, but we knew we’d mostly just be playing for D12’s fans and trying to make fans out of them. The first song or two, no one had a clue who we were, but by the middle of the show, people were into it.”