Shad Interview Part 3

Here is part 3 of the interview I did with Shad. Go read Part 1 and Part 2 and download the podcast for free to listen to this interview. We had a lot of fun conducting it. I hope you are enjoying it as well.

Chase: “I noticed that you have a bit of an online presence. You have a blog and maybe a few fan blogs. Are you on Twitter?”

Shad: “I’m not on Twitter. I actually don’t do too much online. My manager does my facebook group and he also does most of my blog just because I am just no tech-savy at all. Anything that’s new in technology is not intuitive to me at all.”

Chase: “I like the fact that you’re honest about it because 50 Cent or somebody, I think it was recently, that that’s not him on Twitter at all and he was fronting like that. ‘Cause I read your blog and there was a post from you on there.”

Shad: “Yeah, we mark it if it’s actually from me.”

Chase: “Which is nice and you were talking about the importance of Black History Month and you said, ‘I don’t want to hear about Kool Herc or I don’t wanna hear about…’ and all of a sudden we’re like what? he doesn’t wanna hear about that? But reading that blog really opened my eyes because I did a little bit more research and I recently went to the Museum and they had a whole exhibit on Black inventors and it was amazing to see the Super Soaker was invented by a black man. And I was like, ‘Woah, I love that thing. I use it ever summer. I didn’t know that,’ and all these everyday inventions we use like-”

Shad: “a pencil sharpener.”

Chase: “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing and we should try to focus on that stuff for Black History Month. So that was a nice post that you put up there.”

Shad: “Thanks, man.”

Chase: “I think a lot of people don’t look at that. They look at, like you said in one of your rhymes, they look at playing ball and music and there’s a lot more to black culture than just that.”

Shad: “Definitely, and I think because it just gets drowned out so much by stereotypes and images that have been reinforced our whole lives ,that all those people and all those accomplishments just get overshadowed. It doesn’t affect our perception of this large group of people. It just gets drowned out. That’s what that post was kind of about. I was going to call that post ‘No Rap Febrauary,’ but I’m playing shows in February so I can’t call it that.”

“I was going to call it ‘No Rap February,’ ya know, because we know a bit about hip-hop and we know a little bit about a couple figures in black history but there’s a lot that we don’t know.”

Chase: “Yeah, which is simply mind blowing if you look into it. Hopefully you and I are encouraging people to look into it. I’m not sure this show will be able to air in time for Black History Month because I need some time to put it together but hopefully we can have it on air for Saturday, which is the end of February. But why does it have to be just in one month that we think about these things?”

Shad: “Yeah, yeah, I mean, it would be cool if it was something that was all-year round. But we all know the problems of history and who keeps it and how it’s controlled so I think it’s good to have a period in time where we learn new things.”

Chase: “Yeah! At first, I was against it because they don’t have any Aboriginal History month or White History month, and if they did that would be a big problem because history has been typically written by whites. But when I first heard it, I didn’t no if I agreed with it. But I can see that it has opened a lot of doors and it’s opened a lot of eyes and that’s what it was meant to do.”

Shad: “Yeah, I think that’s what it was meant to do. I think it’s meant to be a thing where let’s remember that North America has a large history Black people and contributions and unfortunately we live in a world where that’s just drowned out by certain images that kind of make all of us in this culture think that Black people are kind of this one kind of static, small, narrow kind of personality. So I think that’s important.”

Chase: “I think that happens with a lot of different races too. People think of Aboriginals and they have a certain type and Asians and they have a certain type. It happens a lot so I’m thinking things like Black History Month and Chinese New Year and stuff like that where people get to think of other cultures. Those are good things.”

Shad: “It benefits everybody, yeah!”

Chase: “Absolutely. Well, we’ve been talking a long time so let’s play another song. What should we listen to now?”

Shad: “We could play ‘The Old Prince Still Lives at Home.’”

Chase: “Oh yeah, that song is awesome. That song is hilarious. Yup, let’s play that one. There’s a great video to that, you gotta see that. You sort of take the whole Fresh Prince title credits and just have a lot of fun with them. It’s a great visual and too bad this is radio so we won’t see it but here it is on my blog for you to check it out. So this is ‘The Old Prince Still Lives at Home’ from the album ‘The Old Prince,’ definitely worth picking up. If you don’t have that, go get that. I tell you, it’s really awesome. Good, good hip-hop right there. So let’s spin it and we’ll be back to wrap things up. This is Chase March on the interview tip, sitting with Shad just before the show at Call the Office in London, Ontario. All right, we’ll be back, right after this.”

Chase: “All right that’s a dope track right there ‘The Old Prince Still Lives at Home.’ You gotta love the ending of that too, especially in the video when the video kind of stops and the beat stops and you’re like ‘Wait, I’m not done yet,’ and you keep going to a hand clap. That’s so hip-hop right there. It’s Canadian hip-hop too like Sweatshop Union, do you know those guys?”

Shad: “Yeah, I know those guys.”

Chase: “Yeah, ‘cause they’ve got a whole ‘broke man rap’ them kind of going which is hilarious and yours is really too here with all the stuff, which isn’t really true I don’t think, because we’ve talked about all the autobiographical stuff. It’s really funny what you do with that.”

Shad: “That’s a perfect example because I was living at home the whole time I wrote that but the song just took its own, ya know, just kind of talking about being cheap and stuff like that so.”

Chase: “Yeah, it’s pretty hard to go to university without living at home or having some kind of ties there.”

Shad: “Yeah but I don’t take Pesos to the club and stuff like that.”

Chase: “I like that rappers can have fun and I think we need so more of this comedy rap. I was thinking about doing a whole show on comedy rap and I could only think of like 5 names, like Pharcyde, Fresh Prince, Eminem, and you, and I was running out of things. I was like, ‘Wait, that’ll be a short show.’ I’m sure there’s more a lot more there.”

Shad: “It would be cool to see more of that, yeah.”

Chase: “Yeah, ‘cause like we said before, hip-hop is about expressing yourself and having fun and it’s nice to see some emcees can take that literally and show us how much fun they’re having and let us laugh along with it.”

Shad: “Absolutely.”

Chase: “So we can bounce our head and we can laugh out loud, like ‘Woah, that’s an awesome line.’ And really that’s what hip-hop was kind of built on with the battle rhyming. Because battle rhyming is about trying to humiliate your opponent but to do it in a funny way.”

Shad: “I think a lot of people even forget that when they’re battling. It’s really about entertaining an audience. It’s about beating this guy by entertaining the audience better that he can. And yeah that involves all the disses and all that, but it’s really about being creative with it, being funny with it and making the crowd like you more than they like the other guy.”

Chase: “Do you do battle rhymes? Have you ever been in a battle?”

Shad: “Yeah I’ve been in a couple battles. It was a lot of fun and that’s exactly what it is. And I think if you take it for that, it can really help sharpen your skills too as an emcee. It’s really exciting for the crowd and for the performers to go at it and see how you can control a crowd.”

Chase: “It’s nice to see people, too, when they can just make it up right off the top. I don’t know where that talent comes from but that’s pretty amazing because a lot of people will sit down and write their rhymes and there are some rappers that can’t freestyle. And I love that freestyling.”

Shad: “Yeah, I think it sharpens those skills. I think it’s exciting for the performers, that’s what makes it’s exciting for the crowd, and you learn how to perform and to entertain and to be a showman. ‘Cause like, one guy can just be, like, murdering you with a verse, and you have to kind of put on this face like you don’t care, like it’s nothing. I think it can be really fun and really entertaining if it’s done the right way.”

Chase: “I agree. Unfortunately some people don’t take it the right way. They get mad or I’ve seen battles before where there have been fights breaking out. That’s just nonsense because that’s not what hip-hop is supposed to be about. Hip-hop is supposed to be about coming together and having fun.”

Shad: “Yeah, that’s why the crowd is there. The crowd’s not there to see a fight, the crowd is there to see two guys entertain and really do their best to put on a good show for them.  It’s like watching a good boxing fight. They’re not there to actually murder each other, ya know what I mean? They’re trying to fight well and entertain people.”
Chase: “Definitely. Well, ya know what? It has been a pleasure talking with you. This has been a honour because I am a fan and I’m really looking forward to the show tonight. So maybe we’ll spin another track and that’ll be the end of the show. Thanks a lot for the opportunity here.”

Shad: “No problem man.”

Chase: “So this is Chase March with DOPEfm, Daddy J is gonna spin some tunes and Gamma Krush a little bit later. We do this each and every week here, Saturday ovcrnights on 93.3 CFMU. And like I said before, if you don’t have the Shad album. Go pick up ‘The Old Prince,’ definitely worth having. You can also download this interview for free from dopefm.mypodcast.com. Thanks a lot Shad.”

Shad: “No problem”