Shad's Interview with AfriPOP

AP: What’s it like when you go to Rwanda?

Shad: Now that my folks have a place there, it feels more like normal life cos we’re not bouncing from place to place and I’m not meeting everyone for the first time. So when I go back now, I have a bit of a relationship with some fam.

AP: How about the language thing? Can you speak Kinyarwanda?

Shad: The language thing is harder with the older generation. I only speak the basics. But I speak French and English and most people there speak one or the other.

AP: Fluent French?

Shad: Yup

AP: To rap in even?

Shad: (Laughs) I could but it wouldn’t be so good. It takes beyond just being comfortable in conversation. You gotta know the common language as well as the formal language and understand the culture, and have practice playing with them together. I’m not there!

AP: Would you say you grew up listening to a wider range of music than your average kid from the hood?

Shad: Yeah definitely. We came up listening to everything.

AP: When and how did rap come in?

Shad: I wonder about that. I grew up listening to everything but I gravitated towards Hip-hop. Maybe subconsciously I connected with it because it was what people that looked like me were doing. I also didn’t play any instruments until later in high school. So it was a way for me to have fun with music when I was 16 or so.

AP: I notice you rap clean…

Shad: Word. That’s just how I talk. The opportunity to communicate through music, or even communication period I think is a serious responsibility is a serious responsibility because words are so powerful. They affect people deeply so I try to be responsible with that.

For the rest of the interview CLICK HERE