Shadrach Kabango (born July 18, 1982), better known as Shad or Shad K, is a Canadian rapper and broadcaster. He has released 7 full-length albums and 3 EP's since his debut in 2005. He won a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2011 and 5 of his albums have been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the most short-list nominations of any artist since the prize's creation in 2006. In 2013, CBC Music named Shad the second-greatest Canadian rapper of all time. Shad hosted Q on CBC Radio One from 2015 to 2016 and hosts the International Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution on HBO Canada and Netflix.
Early life
Born in Kenya to Rwandan parents, Shad was raised in London, Ontario. His mother worked as a lab technologist in a London hospital and his father was a machinist. He attended London Central Secondary School.
Music career
While an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, Shad won $17,500 from 91.5 The Beat's Rhythm of the Future talent competition. He was entered in the radio contest by his sister. The prize money was used to finance his self-released debut album When This Is Over (2005). The album was recognized for Shad's honest lyrics and focus on social causes—for example, the track "I'll Never Understand" examines the Rwandan genocide and includes poetry written by his mother Bernadette Kabango.
In 2007, Shad was signed by Black Box Recordings for a three-album deal and released his second album, The Old Prince. The album was supported by four singles, most prominently "The Old Prince Still Lives at Home", with its accompanying viral music video. In 2008, The Old Prince received a Juno Award nomination for Rap Recording of the Year and was a short-list nominee for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize. The music video for the single "The Old Prince Still Lives at Home" was nominated for two MuchMusic Video Awards in 2008.
Shad released his third album, TSOL, in 2010. TSOL was a short-list nominee for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize, the video for the song "Rose Garden" received a nomination for a 2011 MuchMusic Video Award, and the album won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards. On beating out Canadian compatriot Drake for the Juno, Shad said in an interview: "I did not think for a second that I would win. Not for one second. He's massive. He's massive in the States, he's massive in Canada."
In 2012, Shad released the EP "Melancholy and the Infinite Shadness" and in June 2013, he released a collaborative EP with Skratch Bastid entitled The Spring Up. Shad's fourth album, Flying Colours, was released on October 15, 2013. This album was nominated for the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2014, and was a short-list nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize. In December 2014, Shad released a collaborative EP with DJ T. LO entitled "Boarding Pass".
In 2016, he released a 90s-influenced soft-rock album, Adult Contempt, under the pseudonym Your Boy Tony Braxton. The alter ego was based on "the idea of a dude named Tony Braxton who likes to sing (but obviously isn't as good as the famous Toni Braxton)." Musically, the album was inspired by Michael Penn, Terence Trent D'arby, The Cure, Bryan Adams, and Janet Jackson.
In the same year, Shad collaborated with Tanya Tagaq on "Centre", a track from her album Retribution, and also recorded for Homeboy Sandman, Skratch Bastid, and A Tribe Called Red (on We Are the Halluci Nation).
In July 2018, Shad released the lead single, "The Fool Pt 1 (Get It Got It Good)" from his new album, A Short Story About a War. Two follow-up singles, "The Fool Pt. 3 (Frame of Mind)" and "The Stone Throwers (Gone in a Blink)", were released in prior to the album's release. The album was released in October 2018 on Secret City Records and included collaborations with Lido Pimienta, Kaytranada, Ian Kamau, Eternia, and Yukon Blonde. A Short Story About a War is a concept album, which explores the same war from multiple perspectives. The album was short-listed for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize, marking Shad's 4th Polaris short-list nomination.
In April 2020, Shad indicated he was working on finishing a new album. He also was featured on Tobi's "24 (Toronto Remix)" and its corresponding music video, along with Haviah Mighty, Jazz Cartier, and Ejji Smith.