Shad
I heard of Shad about two years ago, and heard he was one of the illest MCs in a long time. Apparently for some of his beats he would play guitar and hit the side of it to make the drum, and then rhyme at the same time. I HAD to hear this for myself. Well, I checked him out, he IS dope, and you should give him a listen. I recently got a chance to do a quick interview with him, and he had some interesting stuff to say.
How did you get started?
I've always loved music, always loved hip hop. Early in high school I got into freestyling with friends, writing a bit but nothing serious, making little tapes in the basement and that sort of thing. After first-year, I hooked up with some old high school friends named Anton and Nyles who were already working together under the name Bread and Water and I sort of hopped on with them and started recording and doing shows. And
that's all the beginning I guess. Oh, and I learned how to play guitar later in high school as well.
What's your hometown?
London Ontario. I was actually born in a small town in Kenya and then my family moved to London when I was real small and I've lived there til I moved to Waterloo (where I am now) for school. My family and my most of my best friends are still in London so I'd consider that home for sure.
Who are your influences?
My influences in hip hop are just the guys that I loved listening to. Different guys for different reasons but overall I'd say, KRS-One with his confidence and intelligence, Common for his lyrics and his ability to put his soul into his songs. A ton of emcees but mostly just whoever comes with someting fresh and has the courage to be themselves and make dope music out of that. Things outside of music I think have influenced my music most of all though. Life experience, my relationship with God, the people around me -- have all influenced the way I approach music and the music that I make more than anything else I'm pretty sure.
What do you think about the London hip hop scene?
I don't know a whole lot about the london scene actually. It seems like it's a bit bigger or more unified than when I was there in high school. It's a tough situation cuz London's a really conservative city, there's not a lot of support for artists, the venues and opportunities for rappers starting out aren't there that much either - at least not when I was there. Of course there's always the problem of close-mindedness and the crabs-in-a-barrell mentality that hurts people's willingness to get together and start a community. That happens a lot in smaller cities that creeps in there too. I dunno if all of that is still around now. I'm guessing it is though at least to some extent.
Any stories about a show you did?
Hmmmm ... we've done lots of funny/sketchy gigs with my group! haha ... one time we played this super
hippy festival way out in the country somewhere with organic port-o-potties and people in strange costumes and stuff. We've played some really fun shows too like this one festival on the night of my birthday last year and we stayed there overnight and camped out after the show. Wicked memories for sure.
I heard that one of your songs is getting radio play in the UK, can you
go into any details on that?
Yes, my old group Bread and Water collaborated with a wicked British DJ named TM Juke on a couple tracks last year. One was for a 12" single that got some good play over there and did really well.
What's your favorite breakfast cereal?
Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 110%. Since Grade 10... Honorable mention to Golden Grahams and Vector.
Anything else?
Big up to the londonhiphop.net people for working to bring heads together and bring more credibility to the scene. Peace ya'll.
-June 10th, 2005
You can buy Shad's CD, When This is Over, at Dr. Disc.
Shad can be reached at: shadrachkabango@hotmail.com
You can check out his myspace (with songs on it) here.
