If this were a column about the best YouTube music videos, Shad’s spot for The Old Prince Lives at Home would probably top the list. The video is almost a scene for scene copy of the opening to the ’90s sit-com The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, except the Toronto hip-hop artist’s song is playing instead of Will Smith’s famous rap.
It’s an incredible recreation. Shad nails all of Smith’s mannerisms and the twist ending is hilarious. The video got a lot of people talking about the rapper and got me excited about how he would treat the songs on his new album, TSOL, which is out today and is the followup to his Polaris–nominated sophomore effort, The Old Prince.
So, I was a little disappointed to discover it wasn’t Shad who came up with the Fresh Prince concept.
“I just showed up,” he says about the video. “The directors threw the idea at me.
“I want to make an animated video so I don’t have to do anything.”
While I’d like to see another humorous video from Shad, I can let it go. It’s obvious that the Kenyan-born, London, Ont.-raised rapper put all his creative energy into this new record.
The disc starts off — after a two-minute intro — with an incredibly infectious soul track based around Rose Garden, a Lynn Anderson country tune. That alone would have been enough, but Shad’s blistering raps and occasional oddball lyrics (“When Abraham went to slash Isaac in a sense he baptized him”) turn this into yet another Canadian rap record that this country’s music industry would be wise to export.
While some of the songs’ topics may seem unusual — listen is all about, well, listening — he’s not afraid to tackle some of rap’s more sensitive issues, like the lack of women in hip hop.
On Keep Shining he sings, “I’ve been known to talk about women on a track or two … I can’t talk for women … we need women for that, more women in rap.”
“Rap is still a very guy to guy conversation,” he says, explaining where the song came from. “We’re leaving people out of the conversation. We need to open it up more.”
Another thought-provoking tune is the what’s-the meaning-of-life? track A Good Name. In it Shad explores the roots of his name and in the process touches on some existential issues about life and personal history. “That’s a lot of where hip-hop is,” he says. “It’s about where you come from and taking pride.”
The disc could easily thrust the talented MC into the same stratosphere as K’naan or k-os. And while American hip hop is still the place most people look to for their raps, Shad jokes that soon enough his Canadian cohorts will be the dominant ones.
“I just have to sit down with my co-conspirators and figure out how we’re going to make our move.”
Bryan Borzykowski is a business and entertainment writer. Follow Metro Music on Twitter @TheMetroMusic
