Shad
The Old Prince
5/5

Who It’s For: Fans of underground, non-commercial real hip hop
Sounds Like: Common, Kanye West

When you first listen to Shad K’s new album-The Old Prince-in its entirety, it’s difficult not to notice a distinctly warm, fuzzy feeling inhabiting your stomach. This, my friends, is the sensation of pure, homegrown talent making your senses aware of what real hip hop is all about. The grooves are chill, unique and versatile. The rhymes are clean, clever and socially aware. Everything about the album screams talent, precision, and, to be undeniably cliché, ‘realness.'

Shad talks about what he knows; he speaks of letting ego overtake true talent in the downtone, guitar-touched “Angel;” conversely, he lets it all out by admitting to his monetary foibles, including not being able to afford an entire accompanying track, in the hilariously honest “The Old Prince Still Lives at Home.” Songs like “Quest For Glory” and “What We All Want” are energetic and inspiring, and entertain ideas of personal progress and potentiality reached.

One of the standout tracks, “Get Up,” combines an old-school synth and high-register melody to create a great, feel good track that comments on the social mobility of speech and rhymes. This album will create a star out of Shad, and he’s definitely the prime royalty to represent true nature of this genre.

Track Listing:

1. Intro: Quest For Glory
2. I Don’t Like To
3. What We All Want Feat. Kamau and Relic The Oddity
4. Brother (Watching) Feat. B and F Kabango
5. Now A Daze
6. The Old Prince Still Lives At Home
7. Out Of Love Pt. 2
8. Behind The Thinning Veil Of Self Deprecating Humour, The Old Prince Is Afraid He May Have Just Wasted The Last Three Years (Interlude)
9. I Heard You Had A Voice Like An Angel/Psalm 137
10. Compromise
11. Exile
12. Get Up
13. Outro Feat. Kamau

- Kate Davis