Corner Rap

TSOL - Shad

This is the first rap album I have ever posted and this is with good reason. Listening to rap these days is really hard for me, is it just me or are rappers less creative ? Regardless, I had the great fortune of stumbling onto this nugget brought to you by the Canadian rapper who goes by the name of Shad. This is his third album and having listened to his previous work, this is an overall improvement to his sound but his lyrics are still as potent and grounded as they were since he picked up the mic. The origin of his name is colorfully explained in "A Good Name", "Keep Shining" seems like it revolves around the standard rap brag yet it stands out as a polar opposite and the fantastic vibe surely does not hurt. "We, Myself & I" is by far the high energy track of the album and the use of the letter "I" in the first verse is the kind of creativity I was talking about. "At The Same Time" has a darker tone but the underlying message is meant to uplift and educate, the resulting sound is haunting yet beautiful; hard to get in a rap song. "Listen" has an oddly old-school vibe about it while still sounding very fresh and relevant, this track voices some of the concerns many of us have about the road rap is going down and the need for it to go back to the representation of the people. I have gone on long enough, so until the next post...

Xero & The Boombox Theorists