Shad (rapper)

Shadrach Kabango (born July 18, 1982), 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.

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.

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).