With the 2010 Polaris Prize being announced on Monday, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to introduce you to second time nominee Shad. Not one to rely on standard hip-hop tropes, Shad’s latest album TSOL covers issues ranging from the need for more women in Hip-hop, depression, being a geek (“more Mac than ten tech geeks dissing XP“)and a host of other topics, all delivered via a devestating flow of word play. The album is a tour-de-force, showcasing his verbal dexterity and wit with help from some old soul samples, enganging, head nodding beats from the likes of Classified and DJ T-Lo and guest vocals from BSS-ers Lisa Lobsinger and Brendan Canning. We caught up with Shad earlier this month to find about what inspires him, his camping trip with the Besnard Lakes and got him to reveal his elementary school jam.

Hi Shad. First of all congratulations on TSOL’s nomination for the Polaris Prize.

Thanks.

There’s a refreshing positivity to your lyrics, a really infectious playful energy that shows your love of what you are doing. Where do your songs come from? What is your inspiration?

Well a lot of the songs from this album came from a place of sort of realizing that making music is what I do now which is great, and so I just want to work hard and do it as best as I can; try to make some fun, honest, interesting songs.

How did you get started? Was there a point when you realized “This is what I want to do or who I want to be?

I think in my early 20′s I started getting more and more into making music. That was when I started writing some rhymes that I thought expressed something about who I was and that were worth sharing.

Do you think it’s harder for Canadian rappers to get taken seriously? Despite all of the great artists out there it seems like they may not get the respect they deserve? Even if someone has heard of yourself, K’Naan or Drake, It feels like sooner or later the conversation always ends up with Snow (even if 12 inches of Snow is a great name for an album).

Haha, yeah it’s something most of us are accustomed to. It’s cool though in a lot of ways. Starting out it made me wanna just work at trying to find my voice and not take myself too seriously since there was a huge chance that a lot of ppl outside (and even within) Canada wouldnt be that open to my music anyhow. That being said, it’s great to see what a lot of cats out of Canada are doing right now. I think we’ve made a lot of strides in the last few years in terms of gaining respect. A good handful of our artists have broken out internationally and theres a bunch more making really solid music too… and ‘Girl I’ve been hurt‘ was my jam in elementary school. I can’t front on that either.

You left London (Ontario) to go and study a masters at SFU in Vancouver on the west coast. How are the studies going? Has is been difficult to juggle your career and work at the same time- you seem to have been doing a lot- Summer festivals, upcoming tours with K’Naan and K’os…..

It hasn’t been too bad so far. I have to take terms off here and there but so far my professors have been very understanding with that. Hopefully I’ll finish up in the next 12 months.

You also recently went on an expedition to the Northern Territories with fellow Polaris Shortlisters Besnard Lakes as part of a Canadian Heritage Expedition. Can you tell us a little bit about what that was for?

That was a blast! I’ve never gone camping so that was a way to do it. Jace and Olga and everyone we traveled with were great. There were a couple documentary film crews with us. You can check some info at the National Parks Project website.

What are your Top 5 records?

Kanye West – College Dropout
Outkast – Aquemeni
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Lauryn Hill – Mised
(not necessarily in that order)
Nas – Illmatic, Hayden – Everything I long For, Say Anything … Is a Real Boy* 3-way tie for 5th. (yes, I cheated.)

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?

No clue.

If you could have written or played on any song, what would it be and why?

Probably any of the motown stuff – Smokey, Supremes, Four Tops, Marvin… I’m pretty sure that’s the best music ever made.

What is the first song you listen to when you wake up?

Depends… for about a month I listened to “Islands in the stream” every morning. It was a good month.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Please tell us five tracks with a theme of your choice.

Heartbreak epics (min 5:00 long. all about heartache):

Bonnie Raitt – I can’t make you love me
Isaac Hayes – Walk on by
Kanye West – Say you will
Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
Bon Iver – Re: Stacks

Finally, Can you recommend us another Canadian band or artist we should listen too that perhaps our readers might not have heard of?

I gotta cheat again. Heres 4: Ian Kamau, Ken Reaume, Shaun Boothe, Theo3.