Possibly the only emcee whose actual name is more awesome than his stage name — Shadrach Kabango, a.k.a. Shad
As a form of social expression and art, hip hop is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, the artists being lauded in the mainstream typically prefer to explore the style through a lens of violence, sexism and misogyny. These artists represent only a small fraction of the world of hip hop, and in many ways, they can be seen as making genuine political statements — if someone grows up in the ghetto around guns, sex and racism, then writing about it is political. That said, using hip hop as a tool to glamourize and profit off of questionable morals is abhorrent in the context of what the genre can and often does stand for. In a market where many artists are trading brains for bling, those promoting positivism, pushing genre boundaries and exploring the uplifting side of the music often go unnoticed.
Two such under-heard artists are touring together, hitting Calgary this week. One, Classified, is a seasoned MC and founding father of political Canadian hip hop, and the other is a newcomer, Vancouver via London’s Shad (Shadrach Kabango). Following an impressive independent release, Shad signed to Black Box Recordings and released his sophomore collection late last year, the brilliant, political and creative The Old Prince. Using a combination of live instrumentation and beats, Shad crafts genre-bridging melodies his towering, powerful rhyming to stand on. The result is an album that dives into music’s power to unite.
“When I am being honest and real on a personal level, my music comes out that way,” says Shad. “Then the clarity and honesty in my intentions is present, and I can take on the challenge of trying to do something worthwhile musically. At the same time, I don’t want to try to be a good person purely or primarily for the sake of making good music. I want to do it for the right reasons.”
Such honest intentions often end up depleted in the drive to sell records. Not so for Shad, who reveals himself as an intensely introspective songwriter and wordsmith on Prince.
“This album, to me, is a metaphor for a lot of things, which does mirror the traditions of hip hop,” he explains. “Things like my life, the human condition, our generation and becoming who we’re meant to be. For example, on the surface we’re students or teachers or presidents or moms or singers or garbage men or whatever, but on a deeper level, I think we’re more than that. We have a sense sometimes that we’re more than just our job or our family name, that we’re unique and we have a purpose. And we’re responsible for each other in a way. What we do affects people. So the themes of honour and courage and love are all over the stories on this album, affecting each melody and rhyme I wrote.”
Chalk up a winner for the good side of hip hop, a trend that’s more common of late. Since Nas released Hip-Hop is Dead, the genre has been seeing an upswing in positive energy, and Shad is glad to be at the forefront. “I think I can say for the first time that I see a real positive trend in hip hop emerging,” agrees Shad. “There has always been great hip hop, but now it is mainstream; Kanye West is outselling 50 [Cent] by so much, for example, and Common debuted at No. 1 on Billboard. There’s a lot of good music and positive messages coming into the spotlight in hip hop. Let’s hope it continues.”
