Shad: The Old Prince

Instead of getting your panties all up in a bunch about autotone and Lil’ Wayne features, take a listen to Shad. One listen to this skillful, refreshing, and miraculous voice from London, Ontario guarantees that any and every problem that hip-hop fans have faced in the last little bit will be drowned out by smooth lyrical technicality and precise micsmanship. The Old Prince isn’t the debut from Shad, but it could be seen as his debut to a larger audience, while still being a smaller release. Cutting the top spot on our Top 10 Smaller Releases of 2008 list, Shad shows that he certainly earns all of the praise, critical acclaim, awards, and hype that he has garnered through this magnificent (and curse free) LP.

The combination of humour, somberness, wit, and concept is such a difficult blend to come by in hip-hop these days. Maybe if you go to the days of Del the Funky Homosapian and Redman you’ll find them, but it wasn’t until Shad’s “I Don’t Like To” that a fury of flavour from all of these components gets bashed in the 2008 eardrums. Peep:

I Tunes, eye-patch
I’m in the same boat where the pirates be
Tell’em I’m down with that pirate stee
They don’t buy it, I say don’t buy it – pirate me
If it’s I’ll, it’ll spread virally
From my received folders to
Appearing in the love that the crowds show
(shhh) if it sound dope – keep it on the downlo(ad)
Keep it Real Player
With the volume cranked
And I’ll be ballin like Tim Duncan – callin bank
Cash – banked it
But the bank said
That my cheque’s been bouncing like the bankhead
So I’m bad like credit while they bear styles
More plane than the Air Miles
Borrowed metaphors from mega-stores to get rewards
We get’em open automatic like the exit doors
And take a step higher – y’all just gotta press the floor
And step out – in faith – it’s ok to confess doubt
Knowin how it feels to be stressed out
Tribe called map quest-style poems I sketch out
To find the best route home
Don’t live in your dome for too long
You end up like that Tiffany song – thinking we’re alone
We all get older, we don’t all get grown

Take this joint as a hint; Shad is a mixed bag loaded with money, porn, hip hop, the Bourne DVD’s, Dairy Milk chocolate, and your favourite skin lotion. Reach in and you’ll get something of everything, everything of one thing, or some of this and that. Regardless, you are getting some of the best things you could possibly ask for.

The beauty of “Brother (Watching)” lies in the melancholic tone, yet, uplifting delivery of lyrics from Shad over the Marvin Gaye sample. “Exile” is a trunk thumping drum beat with soulful strokes of the guitar, viola, and piano alongside the vivid lyrical depiction of the hardships and schemes one may go through. It’s usually like this; the best of both worlds. But, other times, like on “Now a Daze,” Shad is ridiculously good, while the beat is very forgettable. Still, it isn’t a consistency that may act as a black cloud on his career (I’m looking at you Nasir).

The album consistently switches gears, but, without one or two tracks here, the concept of The Old Prince would be lost. Take “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home,” for example. It is essentially a biography of Shad’s current life in its most blunt (and hilarious) form and it is necessary to the overall appeal of the album. Sticking with his home, Shad is never shy to talk about Canada and trusts his audience to catch it: “When I’m writing, I repeatedly edit words and re-word tracks/ I’ll admit, I’m like the Raptors, I got weak first drafts/ So, when I’m dropping a new flow it’s probably not all that solid at first/ you might call it Arujo.”

Considering that each track has a different producer, the chemistry is on point. It would be refreshing to see Shad craft out something with one particular sound and let his words drip anywhere and everywhere on the beats. It is evident that a different producer is used on each track (including Shad, who co-produces some joints too) strictly based on the diversity of sound, but the track-to-track connection is seamless. If you want to consider that an “L,” then by all means do so. But then, you’d be reaching as much as I am to find more flaws.

91/100

Standout Tracks:

“I Don’t Like To”

“Brother”

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“Exile”

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