A Short Story About War (2018) is Shad’s 6th studio album, which received rave reviews and a shortlist nomination for the Polaris Prize that year. Of course, that’s far from out of the ordinary for the alternative hip hop artist: 4 of his albums have been shortlisted, he won a Juno Award in 2011 for Rap Recording of the Year, and CBC named him the 2nd greatest Canadian rapper of all time in 2013. In addition to an extremely successful music career, Shad is also an acclaimed broadcaster (we love a good broadcast) who hosted CBC Radio 1’s Q from 2015-16 and HBO’s Emmy/Peabody award-winning series Hip-Hop Evolution–watch season 4 on Netflix Canada now!
Truth be told, I’m a massive Shad fan. All of his work is nothing short of brilliant. His flow is unmatched, his ballads will give you chills, and his lyrics are so intelligent they’ll offer something new with each listen. Every album gets better and better, and A Short Story About War is no exception.
Inspired by his time living in Vancouver’s Commercial Drive neighbourhood, Shad examines the human experience of intolerance in the form of socio-economic injustice, news fatigue, violence, greed, and racism through a motif of 3 distinct characters, The Sniper, The Stonethrowers, and The Fool.
In interviews, Shad has been described as ‘conscious’ and ‘reflective’; known for seamlessly blending substance, wit, and spirit; this record is a testament to those qualities. Tension is explored both honestly and explicitly, yet not without humour. This is only heightened by heartfelt appearances from other Canadian favourites: Lido Pimienta, Steven Mulcare, KAYTRANADA, Ian Kamau, Eternia, and Yukon Blonde.
Overall the album is a profound analysis of conflict both external and within. The content was timely at it’s release and continues to be in our present. To ‘play us out’ here’s a quote from a 2018 interview from NowToronto:
“In the end, love can’t be overcome – and forgiveness is the highest wisdom,” Shad offers. “That’s where I get a lot of my sense of hope from. Also when I think about this album and the central question of ‘What does it take to see through the illusion of fear?’ to me, the answer is something spiritual – it’s not facts or figures. It’s a discipline – of finding hope and love, and maintaining it.”
Song Recommendations: All of them….? But especially The Revolution/The Establishment (2), The Fool Pt. 1 (5), and Magic ft. Lido Pimienta (7).
Listening Recommendations: When you’re feeling either very driven or not at all, alone or with quiet friends, and all in one sitting.
