Hip Hop in Canada has never been much to write (home?) about. Way too many social safety nets? Every time i open a “Canadian” magazine and read about the next big Canadian hip hop artist it’s usually just novelty act that I never hear about again. The few exceptions, in my mind are rappers Classified and Shad. Classified is a white guy from a Enfield (population 3,200) Nova Scotia of all places. His discography goes all the way back to 1995 and looks like he’s starting to finally get his due. He played a show with Nas in Halifax last year and his 2009 album Self Explanatory is one of his best yet.

One of the tracks on the album features Shad, another talented Canadian rapper. He was born in Kenya and raised in London, Ontario. You might know Shad from his goofy single The Old Prince Still Lives at Home, which spoofs fresh prince of Bel-Air. It looks like Shad and Classified have a lot of collaboration going on to help promote themselves. Canadian rap is evidently a hard sell so they’ll need all the help they can get. Oh and also, unless I’m mistaken this Classified track sample the guitars from the Flight of the Conchords show, which is a nice touch.

Classified - Get out the way (zshare)

Shad - I Don’t Like To (zshare)