Biography
Shadrach Kabango (born 1982), credited as Shad or Shad K, is a Canadian hip hop musician.
Born in Kenya, of Rwandan parents, Shad was raised in London, Ontario. His mother worked in London as a hospital lab technician; his father, as a machinist. He attended London Central Secondary School.
His debut album When This Is Over (2005) was self-made, financed with the $17,500 he won from 91.5 The Beat's Rhythm of the Future talent competition during his time as an undergraduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University. The album is recognized for Shad's self-deprecating lyrics which is often atypical of the current rap scene and focusing 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, he was signed by Black Box Recordings and released his second album, The Old Prince. In 2008, The Old Prince received a Juno Award nomination for Rap Recording of the Year, and was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize. The Album also nominated him for two MMVA Awards and won him a 2009 Indie Award.
In May of 2010, Shad released his third album, TSOL, to excellent reviews and a wider reception than any of his work to date. 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.
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 2016, he released a 90s-influenced soft-rock album, Adult Contempt, under the pseudonym Your Boy Tony Braxton.
His sixth album, A Short Story About a War, was released in October 2018 on Secret City Records and included collaborations with Lido Pimienta, Kaytranada, Ian Kamau, Eternia, and Yukon Blonde. The album was short-listed for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize, marking Shad's 4th Polaris short-list nomination. In June 2021, Shad announced his new album, TAO, would be released October 1, 2021. TAO was short-listed for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize.
Shad is bilingual, speaking English and French. He holds a business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a master's degree in liberal studies from Simon Fraser University.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
