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Entertainment / by Aaron Joseph
Videographer / Richie Mcfly
Video Editor / Leslie Woods
Sound Tech / Miguel De Jesus
Producer / Aaron Joseph

Shad K: Still Homegrown

Part One

“I find it hard to describe rapping, or hip-hop. It’s just a part of me. It just is.”

-Shad

Watch Part Two of our interview with Shad K.

Transcription

One thing people probably don’t know is there’s this emotional flux that you go on. You might put something down and be like, “This is the best thing ever. The best thing anyone’s ever done in music. John Lennon would be jealous of this,” and then the next moment you can hear something back and think, “I’m the worst musician ever born. Ever born. Where are the classifieds? I need to look for a job. Right now.”

My music is rooted in a lot of what I grew up with, which is ‘90s hip hop – a lot of soul samples, a lot of telling my story, speaking what is important to me in a way that I hope is engaging, entertaining, funny and real.

The circumstances are always different; I think the best situation is when it starts as a friendship and then turns into a collaboration, because then it’s not contrived at all. It’s just like, “Okay, here’s another person that makes music. I make music.” If you have a friend and you both like video games, you play video games together. If you have a friend that plays music, you play music together. I think that’s what makes the most sense.

You need an impetus to be creative sometimes. You can’t just be like, “Alright, I’m going to be creative.” You need to set parameters, you need to put yourself in certain situations. So when Wax Romeo, for example, sends me a track, I know it will be something different. If I’m working on my own album I’m not like, “Alright, let me try something that’s 120 BMP.” I never do that. But if you’re in another situation, it’s like, “Cool, let me see if I can fit with this. Let me see if I can do what I do in that context.” Creatively it’s a good challenge; it’s also fun. Music is supposed to be fun and about connecting with people.

It’s just who I am and who I’ve always been, but what people know publicly is my music and it’s hip hop music because that’s where I found a place to express myself but there are a lot of other dimensions. People would maybe be surprised to know.

There are artists that I like that people would be very surprised. There’s a band called The Cardigans that have had one hit in the ‘90s – I know their whole catalog. I love their whole catalog.

“I find it hard to describe rapping, or hip-hop. It’s just a part of me. It just is.”

-Shad

Watch Part Two of our interview with Shad K.

Transcription

One thing people probably don’t know is there’s this emotional flux that you go on. You might put something down and be like, “This is the best thing ever. The best thing anyone’s ever done in music. John Lennon would be jealous of this,” and then the next moment you can hear something back and think, “I’m the worst musician ever born. Ever born. Where are the classifieds? I need to look for a job. Right now.”

My music is rooted in a lot of what I grew up with, which is ‘90s hip hop – a lot of soul samples, a lot of telling my story, speaking what is important to me in a way that I hope is engaging, entertaining, funny and real.

The circumstances are always different; I think the best situation is when it starts as a friendship and then turns into a collaboration, because then it’s not contrived at all. It’s just like, “Okay, here’s another person that makes music. I make music.” If you have a friend and you both like video games, you play video games together. If you have a friend that plays music, you play music together. I think that’s what makes the most sense.

You need an impetus to be creative sometimes. You can’t just be like, “Alright, I’m going to be creative.” You need to set parameters, you need to put yourself in certain situations. So when Wax Romeo, for example, sends me a track, I know it will be something different. If I’m working on my own album I’m not like, “Alright, let me try something that’s 120 BMP.” I never do that. But if you’re in another situation, it’s like, “Cool, let me see if I can fit with this. Let me see if I can do what I do in that context.” Creatively it’s a good challenge; it’s also fun. Music is supposed to be fun and about connecting with people.

It’s just who I am and who I’ve always been, but what people know publicly is my music and it’s hip hop music because that’s where I found a place to express myself but there are a lot of other dimensions. People would maybe be surprised to know.

There are artists that I like that people would be very surprised. There’s a band called The Cardigans that have had one hit in the ‘90s – I know their whole catalog. I love their whole catalog.

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