Sarath "Skiz" Fernando is a former music critic, who has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Source, Spin, and Vibe. Later, under the alias Spectre, he became a record producer, rapper, and electronica artist. He is the founder and the head of his own label WordSound, as well as the author of several books about hip hop music.
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Jason Drew Harrow, better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall, is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent hip hop producers during the 2000s and is distinctive for his reggae and dancehall-influenced style of hip hop.
Rod Bailey, stage name Mcenroe, is a Canadian rapper and music industry entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, he is the founder of his record label Peanuts & Corn Recordings, an independent hip hop distributor, as well as a company specializing in the marketing and promotion of independent music in Canada, Breadwinner Music Group.
Celtic fusion is an umbrella term for any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" musical traditions of all the Celtic nations, as well as from all styles of popular music, it is thus sometimes associated with the Pan-Celtic movement. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celtic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
Masia Lim, better known as Masia One (MAS1A), is a Canadian rapper from Toronto, Ontario.
Black Jays is a Canadian independent record label, production company, and musical collective, specializing in hip-hop, R&B, and reggae music. Founded in 2000 by rappers Kardinal Offishall and Solitair, it was originally known as Silver House and the Girl (S.H.A.G.). In 2004, the group came to prominence after releasing a remix album and mixtape. The Toronto-based group's name is derived from the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.
Mood Ruff was a Canadian hip-hop group formed in 1994 in Winnipeg. The group consisted of Odario, Spitz, Breakz, and ICQRI. Their final album I Do My Own Stunts, which was released in 2005, contained their first hit, "Rocketship".
Shadrach Kabango, known professionally as Shad or Shad K, is a Canadian rapper and broadcaster. Beginning his career in 2005, has released seven studio albums and three extended plays. He won a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2011 and five of his albums have been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the most short-list nominations of any artist in the prize's history. 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.
Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, hip hop, punk rock, jazz, funk, bossa nova and soul.
Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1 is the second studio album by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall. It was released on MCA Records, his first album for a major label. It is a recompilation album, which includes older songs and demos that he used to get signed. The lead single, "BaKardi Slang", became his first single to appear on a Billboard chart. The second single, "Ol' Time Killin'", was a minor hit. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics.
Eye & I is the debut album of Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall, released independently in December 1997, on Capitol Hill Music, and distributed by St. Clair Entertainment. The album was critically acclaimed. One single, "On wit da Show", was released from the album.
Tre Williams is an American singer, formerly affiliated with Nas' label, Ill Will Records.
Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop.
JJ, styled as jj, is a Swedish band who has released music through the Gothenburg-based independent label Sincerely Yours and the Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian. The band consists of Joakim Benon and Elin Kastlander.
Alternative hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip hop groups that refuse to conform to any of the traditional stereotypes of rap, such as gangsta, bass, hardcore, and party rap. Instead, they blur genres drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae, and even folk."
TSOL is the third studio album by Canadian rapper Shad. It was released in Canada on May 25, 2010 and in the United States on October 5, 2010. It is his second album released on Black Box Recordings, and his first album of new material since 2007's Polaris Music Prize-nominated The Old Prince.
Ko Kapches, better known by the stage name KO, is a Canadian musician whose music is a mix of folk, hip hop, reggae, rock and R&B —a sound which KO refers to as "urban-funk and urban-folk".
Kristian Powlowski, better known by his stage name Kay the Aquanaut, is a Canadian alternative hip hop artist from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He has released nine albums and has toured internationally. Several of Kay the Aquanaut's albums have been produced by Factor Chandelier, and he has made appearances on Factor's own albums.
Tru-Paz are a Toronto-based hip hop group, composed of core members Akim, Boozie, Jakie Lu and producer Dj Unknown. They have been recording and releasing hip hop music since 2001. Tru-Paz have described their sound as hip hop with reggae and soul influences. To date, they have released 4 albums and 2 EPs, all with URBNET Records/Incognito Entertainment.
