The Audacity of Dope

Speaking of Shad, here’s a great mini-documentary about a recent trip to his family’s homeland, Rwanda. As I always tell MC’s, and really any young people in general, think global, not local.

A few weeks ago, Shad performed at the Capitol Hill Block Party here in Seattle and his super talented DJ, T-Lo, sadly wasn’t able to make the trip. I was honored to step behind the tables and help keep the show moving in his absence, though I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being on stage. Just not for me.

Shad, on the other hand, is a natural. Above is a quick clip of him performing “Compromise,” a great record off his classic The Old Prince album.  If you missed the official video for the track, peep it here.

Anyone who has visited TAOD before knows that I’m a huge fan of Shad.  Not only is he one of the most gifted MC’s around, but he’s also putting his heart and soul into his music and discussing deep, genuine emotions.  I’m not sure you can ask for anything more from an artist and I’m elated to see the United States finally starting to catch on to his music.

Fresh of the American release of TSOL, Shad came to Seattle with K-Os for the first stop on their Born To Run tour.  It’s only right that we recorded a little something for y’all, though I do apologize for the poor lighting and video quality.  Hopefully you still enjoy our discussion covering the tour, the TSOL project, how it compares to his previous work, the intricacies of his lyrics, and more.  It’s not often that I get to discuss the finer points of artistic expression/responsibility with our guests, so this was an especially fun interview to conduct.  There’s much more that can be said about the issue though, so we’ll have to rekindle it when Shad’s back in town.

In the interim, enjoy the interview and be sure to cop TSOL and The Old Prince ASAP!

More dopeness from Shad K, this type at the Toronto stop of the Warped Tour.  Have you copped The Old Prince yet?

The newest in a series of excellent videos from Shad’s The Old Prince, which was just released here in the U.S. at the end of June.  Do…not…sleep!

Swiped from Shad’s bloggy-blog.

Man…I’ve been trying to tell you about Shad.  This little freestyle he recorded off the dome in the back of his Warped Tour bus with DJ TLO and Dallas Green is just another example of the incredible talent dude has.  Remember this too?

Be sure to follow along with Shad’s Warped Tour experience over on his site and you better catch his set when he comes through your town:

6/26/09    Pomona, CA
6/27/09    San Francisco, CA
6/28/09    Ventura, CA
6/30/09    Phoenix, AZ
7/1/09    Las Cruces, NM
7/2/09    San Antonio, TX
7/3/09    Houston, TX
7/5/09    Dallas, TX
7/7/09    Indianapolis, IN
7/8/09    Pittsburgh, PA
7/9/09    Cleveland, OH
7/10/09    Toronto, ON
7/11/09    Montreal, QC
7/12/09    Hartford, CT
7/14/09    Columbia, MD
7/15/09    Scranton, PA
7/16/09    Buffalo, NY
7/17/09    Camden, NJ
7/18/09    Uniondale, NY
7/19/09    Oceanport, NJ
7/21/09    Boston, MA
7/22/09    Virginia Beach, VA
7/23/09    Charlotte, NC
7/24/09    Orlando, FL
7/25/09    Miami, FL
7/26/09    St.Petersburg, FL
7/28/09    Atlanta, GA
7/29/09    Cincinnati, OH
7/30/09    Milwaukee, WI
7/31/09    Detroit, MI
8/1/09    Chicago, IL
8/2/09    Minneapolis, MN
8/3/09    St.Louis, MO
8/4/09    Kansas City, KS
8/7/09    Boise, ID
8/8/09    Salt Lake City, UT
8/9/09    Denver, CO
8/12/09    Calgary, AB
8/14/09    Vancouver, BC
8/15/09    Seattle, WA
8/16/09    Portland, OR
8/19/09    Fresno, CA
8/20/09    Mountain View, CA
8/21/09    Sacramento, CA
8/22/09    San Diego, CA
8/23/09    Los Angeles, CA

Oh…and The Old Prince is officially in stores now in the U.S.!  [Diddy] COP THAT Cop That cop that [/Diddy]

What up G!

As I mentioned, Shad is releasing his insta-classic The Old Prince Still Lives At Home album in America on June 30th.  Since the LP has been out in Canada for a while, they’ve already dropped some excellent videos for it (including possibly my favorite video ever for the title track), but the new one for “Compromise” will be coming at the start of next month.  In the meantime, director Christopher Mills created this prelude with some extra footage from the video and a quick spoken word poem by Ian Kamau to hold folks over.

Additionally, they released the US artwork today too:

Freshness.

Lastly, even though the Warped Tour doesn’t have a ton of hip-hop on the bill, I highly recommend you check it out when it comes through your town this summer so you can catch Shad’s live set.  Dates are below:

6/26/09    Pomona, CA
6/27/09    San Francisco, CA
6/28/09    Ventura, CA
6/30/09    Phoenix, AZ
7/1/09    Las Cruces, NM
7/2/09    San Antonio, TX
7/3/09    Houston, TX
7/5/09    Dallas, TX
7/7/09    Indianapolis, IN
7/8/09    Pittsburgh, PA
7/9/09    Cleveland, OH
7/10/09    Toronto, ON
7/11/09    Montreal, QC
7/12/09    Hartford, CT
7/14/09    Columbia, MD
7/15/09    Scranton, PA
7/16/09    Buffalo, NY
7/17/09    Camden, NJ
7/18/09    Uniondale, NY
7/19/09    Oceanport, NJ
7/21/09    Boston, MA
7/22/09    Virginia Beach, VA
7/23/09    Charlotte, NC
7/24/09    Orlando, FL
7/25/09    Miami, FL
7/26/09    St.Petersburg, FL
7/28/09    Atlanta, GA
7/29/09    Cincinnati, OH
7/30/09    Milwaukee, WI
7/31/09    Detroit, MI
8/1/09    Chicago, IL
8/2/09    Minneapolis, MN
8/3/09    St.Louis, MO
8/4/09    Kansas City, KS
8/7/09    Boise, ID
8/8/09    Salt Lake City, UT
8/9/09    Denver, CO
8/12/09    Calgary, AB
8/14/09    Vancouver, BC
8/15/09    Seattle, WA
8/16/09    Portland, OR
8/19/09    Fresno, CA
8/20/09    Mountain View, CA
8/21/09    Sacramento, CA
8/22/09    San Diego, CA
8/23/09    Los Angeles, CA

August 15th it is…

I think Shad is my favorite discovery of this past year.  I know he’s been doing his thing for years, but apparently I was sleeping cause I just caught on to him at the end of 2007.  Better late than never though and in fact, this video is from back in July, but the new homey G just shot it over and I was floored.  This dude is crazy.

Be on the lookout for big things from Shad in ’09.  He’ll be at SXSW in March and on the Warped Tour all year, including a Seattle stop in August.  Prior to that, it looks like he’ll be out here in the Pacific NW rocking shows, so I’ll keep y’all posted when things get announced.  In the meantime, be sure to cop The Old Prince asap.