Shad Talks TAO Tour, the Problem With Genius, and His q’ Departure – Complex

TAO is an apt title for Shads latest album. Thats because few of his showbiz peers are equally enlightened. Ahead of the 22-date TAO tour (kicking off April 29) the rapper not only discussed spitting lauded and timely rhymes about gig economy gauges and addictive tech for that LP. And he didnt just look back on being part of the Peabody-winning docu-series Hip-Hop Evolution, or consulting on the ambitious upcoming Black Life: A Canadian History. He also gave zen-likenot to mention rarecomments about his tumultuous 2016 exit from CBCs flagship arts program q.

Whats more: the MC also told us about letting such yin and yang fall out of harmony while (very hilariously) standing his ground against one of the most (perhaps misguidedly) popular platforms in music. To paraphrase Shad belowthere are times for Taoism, but sometimes rappers are better served by The Art of War.

Youve been praised for rapping outside your sonic comfort zone on the TAO favorites Slot Machines and Work. One overlooked track: Body (No reason). Its bedrock-hard beat changed my idea of what a typically jazzy Shad song could be.Well, I love music that has an excitement to it. And that can be of any genre. Dom Dias, whos done a lot of different work with a lot of people, sent me that beat. And I quickly told him, Its dope, let me rock on this one. Especially when I think of a full-length album, I love making the track list dynamic and full of surprises.

I wanted it to feel exciting, not just in the lyrics but also have an up energy in the vocal delivery. So a lot of the bars are just train of thought, me going in on this hard beat. But also making sure I touch on real things, especially the threads throughout the album about technology and what that does to our relationships with each other and ourselves.

What are some of your favourite lyrics on that song?There are some bars in there about a specific situation I had with genius.com where, I think I said it better in the lyrics than I can in conversation, but it was a strange, convoluted situation. How can I explain this clearly? I love the idea of a fan community around lyrics. Like, I love that. And I love fans uploading lyrics to Genius, and annotating, and all that.

But what I dont like is the site itself, the company, promoting that its an official source. And making money off of that. Because its not official. Its a fan community site. I think, in an insidious and disingenuous way, they try to pass themselves off as an official source. And one way they try to do that is verifying artists in this fabricated clout system.

They wanted to verify me, and I said, I dont want to be verified. And Im not going to work for you for free to correct my song lyrics on your site, so that you can promote yourself as an official source. At least get the lyrics right. Youre a lyrics site! At least invest in that.

So I touched on that in the song.

That went over my head as a listener. But Im so excited to hear that Shad beefed with Genius.[Laughs] It wasnt even beef! Its a parasitic business model. You want artists to do free labour for this system of clout, that you invented. In order to, you know, make all this revenue. It seems very [pauses] shady. So I asked to be unverified. And after a long time, they complied.

How did that feel in the end?You know, its one of those things where you think: What did that accomplish? And the truth is: probably not very much. But on principal, I was like, Yeah, I have to do that. And whatever, its not a big deal. But it is emblematic of Internet culture, and Internet business, where people are trying to get rich quicker, without actually caring about their work.

That makes me think of your song Work, where you rap suckers work for money. You should make your money work for you. What made you want to write about labor?I knew I wanted to make a song about work. So I sat down with Skratch Bastid, who Ive collaborated with a bunch before. And I pulled up this drum break by this Vancouver prog group called We Are the City.And Bastid was really into it. Again, like Body, its a very different track than what Ive been on before. But it was really fun to put together, because it was a mix of a couple of different influences. It has this prog, industrial element. And it has a very 80s, Rick Rubin production side that Bastid and I are fans of as well, but that I havent dabbled in much. So it was cool to try and figure that mix out. That sound made me think it was the song I was going to write about work to. And those lines almost wrote themselves.

It sounds clich but: music has given me so much. Ive learned how to work hard. How to persevere. How to be more courageous. How to be more myself. Its given me everything.

What challenges lie in changing your sound on these new songs, and then bringing that fresh dynamic to the stage for your upcoming tour?The real challenge is putting the new songs beside some of the older ones people will want to hear, so that the set list will make sense. Thats something Ill have to puzzle out. But Im pretty excited to play these new songs, and be in a room with the fans again. Normally, Im more nervous before a tour, in a healthy way. You should have a healthy respect for what you do, and that should make you prepared. But its been so long since Ive been out on the road to play for my fans thats overriding the nerves this time.

Youve worked on plenty of things since being on the road last time. One upcoming project is Black Life: A Canadian History, which you talked a bit about during another recent interview. Can you tell us why its exciting, and why it has the potential to be meaningful?Theres not a lot I can say about the specifics of what it will be. It hasnt been filmed yet. But its an eight-part documentary series about Black history in Canada. Its exciting because theres never been anything on that scale, on that topic before. So its really going to be something else, at least thats the hope and plan. Theres a lot invested in it. Itll cover three or four hundred years of Canadian Black history in one series. And they are making it with an eye toward being an educational resource. But also ensuring its beautiful and artistic. Its got some pretty huge ambition. And Im pretty comfortable with how its going to play out. The plan is for it to come out sometime next year.

And has that process helped you learn some exciting things about Black Canadian figures, that you might not have known otherwise?Ive looked at some treatments so far. My role is as a creative consultant, to give some feedback to the producers and directors. The first episode I read about is about slavery. And that was really illuminating. Because we dont learn a lot about the history on our soil, and Canadas relationship to the slave trade globally. I learned so much reading through that treatment. And I think its going to be pretty mind-blowing for Canadians. And I think the plan is for that to be the first episode.

That subject matter will be interesting, considering how holier than thou some Canadians can be when comparing ourselves to the States, despite recent news. How does it feel to be a part of something thats taking such a much-needed harder look?I think it will give a complete picture. Theres the narratives that we got growing up, in our society. They may be truthful, but not the whole truth. Or in some cases they are total distortions. But I think the doc will bring to light some issues that were not often taught. Like when I was reading in the treatment, I didnt know 80 percent of the stuff I was reading. The research is so good that it brings the stories out in individual cases. Not just statistics, but real Canadian Black people and families and their stories. As we all know, family stories are complicated. Migration stories are complicated. Many Black Canadians at that time mightve come to Canada, then mightve gone back to the States. We have a narrative here that Canada was a safe haven. And some of that may be true. But there were a lot of people that went south looking for freedom, because conditions were difficult for Black Canadians. All that to say: it will give a more complete picture of our history.

I cant wait to see it. It sounds like youre at an interesting place, having lots of successful projects on the go. It makes me think about your career arc.I remember being excited to hear you host q. You got Norm MacDonaldto open up like few have. Later, I had a lot of empathy, because it seemed both challenging and like you were getting a lot of criticism. When Hip-Hop Evolution got the Peabody, did you feel any sense of triumph?Ive always been fortunate to have interesting stuff to work on. With q, obviously I was let go. But I enjoyed it. And I found the work to be meaningful, and I had a good time doing it. And with Hip-Hop Evolution, same thing. I feel lucky to have, and continue to have, purposeful work. And Im also thankful for the lessons. Through q, and Hip-Hop Evolution, and TAO, and the album before it, A Short Story About A War, I feel throughout my career, even before that, I feel like Ive learned so much. It sounds clich but: music has given me so much. Ive learned how to work hard. How to persevere. How to be more courageous. How to be more myself. Its given me everything.

It looks a little bit different to me from the insideless like peaks and valleys and more like this continuous, I dont know, this continuous magical journey. Im sounding really cliched! But thats how it feels, from when I first started making music, like Im embarking on this wild ride thats teaching me everything I know.

Thats a very wise way to look at things. Can it be challenging to have that perspective after being let go from q, for example? Or are there other sources of support to maintain that upbeat perspective?Ive always been fortunate to have really good people and relationships. And a pretty strong spiritual foundation. All that gives me perspective, throughout the successes and failures, on what I am ultimately trying to do. That doesnt change. And what I mean by that, with my music or q, or Hip-Hop Evolution, my goal is always the same: be true to the work, and try to make a contribution.

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Shad Talks TAO Tour, the Problem With Genius, and His q' Departure - Complex