Canadian hip-hop is on the rise, due primarily to the stateside success of northern products such as Drake and K'naan. However, rappers like Shadrach Kabango are making waves of their own north of the 49th parallel. Known as Shad K or simply Shad, the MC has been nominated for a Juno and has been short-listed twice for the Polaris Prize over the span of his three albums.

Born in Kenya but hailing from London, Ontario., Shad released his third album TSOL this summer to critical acclaim. While he's known for intricate wordplay and unorthodox song structures, Shad's experimentation is still guided by convention, sticking with themes and concepts, but with a touch of restraint on his most recent record. In this way the music becomes more accessible, he explains, and the conveyed message is more comprehensible to his listeners, being a "concise way to communicate with your art, to sort of fit it into this sort of template we all have in our brains already."

But on some of the tracks, like his braggadocio-laden single "Yaa I Get It," Shad just can't help but break from the norm. The song lacks a chorus, and instead hosts a four minute, three-verse long introspective rant about his place within the genre of hip-hop and his identification with Canada. The flow heard through his raps is a product of a equally cascading writing process.

"You just keep writing, and the energy in the writing continues to go. Sometimes what makes it more compelling and accessible is just following that energy. It leads you into a more unconventional structure, something more striking and compelling," he says.

It's this mentality of following the energy that sets him apart from the field. Shad manages to tie his complex lyrical double entendres together with a silky flow that never loses momentum. For Shad, going with the flow isn't about replicating proven formulas for success laid out by others, but instead finding inspiration within himself. This idea also carries into his live show, where he's done a fairly good job of winning over crowds and online reviewers with his raps without headlining shows himself. It can't always be easy, considering that Shad has opened for such wide-ranging acts as hip-hop group Arrested Development to playing in front of head-banging teen punks at the Warped Tour. But he manages by always keeping in mind that "a show's about performing for people."

While he's garnered a sizable online following, Shad doesn't recognize the internet as a necessary tool for musicians. When asked if he would ever release a song every week like Kanye West's accomplished with his Good Fridays, Shad brushes off the notion.

"There's definitely more pressure on the business side, labels are a lot like 'hey, this is a great opportunity to be releasing music constantly and constantly have a buzz,'" Shad notes. "But it's just not necessarily the way you have to do it."

"I think that you can still go about it in a way that makes sense if you're not the type of artist who puts out music every week. There are definitely artists who just come out with quality music. Your fans appreciate that and they wait."