By Lauren Eldridge (Vancouver Correspondent)
My first dose of Shad was on 21 February 2009 at the Biltmore Cabaret, and I’ve been addicted ever since. He is an emcee from London, Ontario, and has been living in Vancouver for over a year now. His shows present his energetic live personality, entertaining freestyle skills, and the unique ability to play guitar and rap simultaneously. What struck me at the concert was his sincere and down-to-earth presence, elevating him immediately to the rank of one of the most genuine people I had ever encountered. You get what you see, and you can’t help but love it. Shad says that the balance between being himself and being a performer is that the music is “still you, but it’s entertaining people and it’s having fun, and to me that’s inseparable.” This is especially evident in his lyrics, which have as much profound yet understated self-reflection as his conversation.
Shad’s awareness reaches much farther than self-reflection. He describes his song “I Heard You Had A Voice Like An Angel/Psalm 137” as his reflection on “an industry that is, to a great extent, damaging culture and damaging people, and yet the face of it is smiling, singing and dancing.” Although Shad does not grapple with identity issues as an artist, this ability to reflect on social issues allows him to be more insightful and intellectually stimulating than most artists in his category. The fact that his social commentary is performed as smooth rap allows audience to experience the songs in a more holistic sense. Shad says “that if you make music that people can appreciate not even on a number of levels, but if they can at least appreciate it on any level, then that’s great. Whether it’s just hearing it and melodically it sounds nice, or if it’s really getting into the core of it, then I think that’s cool.”
‘Cause I rap like it's my hobby / not a jobby-job all sloppy and off-key (“I Don’t Like To”).
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