LUCIDMEDIA

Reading Between the Lines with Classified

Written by Sebastian Frye Monday, 08 June 2009 11:07

Let's make this clear: Hip-Hop is a musical lifestyle where limitations breed creativity.

Reminisce for just a second and remember if you will, the origins of the once marginal movement: 1970's New York where the dirt poor and forgotten were aching for a way to quell gang violence and unify broken communities. Realize that ingenuity and innovation were not intentional. The pioneers of Hip-Hop were poorly educated, unable to play instruments like their forefathers (the blues and jazzmen), and had nothing more than record players, records, and a belief that a party with an all night beat could inspire people to clear the streets and make room for dancing, art, and music.

Like those pioneers, the Canadian lyric-smith and prolific producer Classified should be considered under the lamp of his limitations.

The scene awakens upon the sleepy maritime town of Enfield, Nova Scotia. Three thousand people rise from their beds every morning and most of them commute into Halifax for work. The system of locks on the Shubenacadie River, once assisting small vessels in navigating from the Bay of Fundy to nearby Shubenacadie Grand Lake during the 19th century, is quiet. Children trot off to school and the coast's most valuable commodity – its light – is dappling over sloped roofs and drying the morning dew.

But among those three thousand, only a handful of them are listening to Hip-Hop and dreaming of a life in music.

Classified, whose real name is Luke Boyd, and his brother, were two of them. What may have been unthinkable for anyone else was a reality waiting to hatch for Classified. With no prospects of fulfilling his dream in Enfield, Classified set his sights upon Halifax. “When I moved into Halifax, that's when I got more involved in a real hip-hop scene,” he says.

Classified's now-recognizable voice speaks about his youthful memories over the phone from his tour bus. “When I first came in, there was the Ground Squad; Stinkin' Rich, who is now Buck 65; Jorun, who was the first guy who taught me how to use a sampler; Caspa; Nathan C - it wasn't a huge scene. So if you rhymed and you were involved in the scene then you knew pretty much every one else on the scene too."

It could seem like the end of the world enclosed within the peninsula of Halifax, but determination, drive, and a love of the music would resonate across the country to those who were willing to listen. Classified hit the road and toured relentlessly. When asked if he ever felt he broke through, he was hesitant to admit to his success and instead extolled the values of simply working hard. "I don't think there was any moment where I broke through,” he recalls. “The facts of touring and constantly making music were my breakthroughs."

Realizing, if he wanted anything done he would have to make it happen himself, Classified began his career releasing his music on his own under the name HalfLife Records, "I started HalfLife Records in '99 and put the label on the back and pressed 500 copies and sold it hand-to-hand.

“The next album I got independent distribution through this company called No Distribution in Halifax. Then I was signed to Toronto based UrbNet, and now to Sony. It's just been a gradual up-hill climb."

Not that his steady climb to success means that he can rest on his laurels. "If it gets easier, then I'm not doing enough work, and that's not a good thing," Classified laughs then continues. "Being an independent I had to be the one calling up radio stations and record labels saying 'hey can you hook me up?'

"But now with Sony they have a whole team of people who know how to work the industry. There are just different obstacles I have to worry about."

Being from the Maritimes, one might consider that for Classified his origins have very little of relevance to him. All the stereotypes of Hip-Hop unfold in accusations such as "he's not from such-and-such a ghetto" or "he's never held a pistol, or robbed anyone". However, if there is one thing that Classified has proved it's that we make our own stories, they do not make us.

Respected veteren and underground artists in Hip-Hop agree and proudly make appearances on Classified's albums. On his latest offering, his thirteenth and the first distributed by Sony Self-Explanatory, Classified is joined by Canadian Hip-Hop luminaries like Choclair, Maestro, Saukratese, Moka Only, DL Incognito, and Buck 65, while Gangstarr affiliated Royce Da 5'9' joins Classified on the song "They Call This (Hip Hop)."

Like fellow Canadian musician K-Os, Classified is also branching into other musical styles and finds himself beside Maritime rocker Joel Plaskett on the song "One Track Mind".

"I like to put together music that you wouldn't normally expect to hear,” explains Classified. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

Referring to the song with Plaskett, Classified says "I just called him up and asked if he wanted to go into the studio and see if we could come up with something. We went to his studio and banged it out in a day."

So what does Classified have to say on his songs? What is his message? His appeal?

Classified raps about what he goes through in life. Featured prominently on his recent album is a six-part 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series of songs where listeners can choose the route they wish to take and skip to the track where their outcome manifests itself.

Mundane events such as biking, getting something to eat, going to a show, or visiting a friend are the subjects of the adventure, but Classified knows how to extract the importance of the little things. After all, he was once just a little thing too, headphones on, listening to 90's hip-hop in his bedroom.

Then there's the patriotic Canadian stuff. On Self Explanatory Classified writes a new anthem "Oh...Canada," complete with self-deprecating humor and de-mythologizing only someone who travelled across the country incalculable times could sum up.

On his previous release Boy-Cott In' The Industry, Classified wrote a similar song about the Maritimes. Light and truthful, these are songs any musician of lesser capabilities would ruin with sentimentality, but Classified writes and performs them with...well...class.

The class in Classified is really is down to earth nature, his grounding. He is never aloof or frothing at the mouth with visions of excess. He's homely and appreciative; grateful and hard-working; reflective and humorous. The only he wants is to make music.

"I want to be producing - wake up and go to the studio for the day and make records,” he says. “I love touring, and giving shows, but I the touring can wear you down pretty quick. I really want to be able to do shows here and there, but be in the studio producing for other people and writing with other people."

After breaking beyond his limitations and establishing himself as the future of Canadian Hip-Hop, Classified has never forgotten his roots. In fact, he never even forgot the town where he grew up and just bought a house back in Enfield. Classified looks forward to ruminating and recharging after his latest tour.

However, he tempers his appreciation for his old town with a realistic perspective "I think if I lived in Enfield and didn't tour as much I'd be bored out of my mind,” he explains. “When I come home I just want to relax, but after being at home for a month I just want to get on the road again. It's all about balance."