So in after my last post talking about D-Sisive, there were a lot of comments mentioning Shad, so I thought he merited his own post. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, Shadrach Kabango (Shad or Shad K for short) is a rapper from London, Ontario, who first attracted significant attention from hip-hop and Canadian music fans in 2007 with the release of his second full-length studio album, The Old Prince. Based on the strength of singles “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home” (and its Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air-spoofing music video) and “Compromise”, many finally began to recognize Shad’s lyrical prowess. He’s managed to strike a fine balance between being a conscious rapper without being preachy, not to mention having the ability to drop witty pop culture references and jokes into his rhymes at the drop of a hat. Last year, Shad put out his third album entitled TSOL, which was well-receieved by critics and fans alike. The album was even nominated for the prestigious Canadian music award Polaris Prize, but he lost out to Montreal indie rock band Karkwa. He’s also well-respected in the Canadian indie rock community, having recorded with various members of Broken Social Scene, and most recently, recorded two songs with Dallas Green (Alexisonfire/City & Colour) for charity. Here’s the (slightly old) video for TSOL standout “Rose Garden”, two MP3s, and a bonus six-minute freestyle.
Shad – “Rose Garden” | Mediafire
Shad -”Yaa I Get It” | Mediafire
