Shad: Rising Hip-Hop Legend
Sometimes artists rocket onto our radar from out of nowhere. They top charts, create fan frenzy and receive accolades without having ever proved they deserve it. Like a shooting star, these artists all too often fizzle out and disappear from view, leaving behind only memories of the hype.
Then, there are artists who, while deserving of the praise and accolades, fly below the radar of the mainstream. They do not play into the hype and because of this, many people never hear of them. Shad is such an artist and I am here to tell you about him so you are not denied this experience of musical genius.
Shad (born Shadrach Kabango) is a Kenyan born, Canadian-based hip hop artist currently signed by Black Box Recordings. He was born on July 18, 1982 in Kenya and was raised in London, Ontario. Shad has released three full-length studio albums: When This Is Over (2005), The Old Prince (2007), and TSOL (2010) which all have somehow managed to evade mainstream popularity that one would expect of someone with so much talent.
Shad’s lyrics are absolutely delightful, filled with metaphors and masterful story telling, which show his perfection of prose and fiction. On his recent single, “Live Forever,” featuring artist Dallas Green, Shad drops some knowledge saying, “The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart, the hearts made of matter that you can’t measure, that matters beyond measure like light when it travels in the dark.”
Another example of Shad’s exquisite wordplay comes from his song “I Get Down,” off the album When This Is Over. “My resources hold more forces / Than the torque on 400-horse Porsches / I contort, twist and torch kids / With my oral orifice / Til these dorks is nothing more than some scorched corpses.”
As a testament to Shad’s skill and rising stardom, he pulled a huge upset victory over Drake for “Rap Recording of The Year” on the first day of the 2011 Juno awards. This is an example of what Shad is capable of, and he hasn’t even peaked yet. So stay tuned because Shad is about to change the frequency of the game.
