Reading Classified’s Self Explanatory

Luke Boyd feels like a regular guy, though some things in his
life have changed. While his picture’s being taken for this article, a
surly man in a black leather jacket watches. During the interview, the
man sits in the room, silently reading a paper.

Daniel Robichaud is Sony’s regional promotion manager for the
Atlantic provinces. Since Boyd, also known as the hip-hop artist
Classified, signed to the record company in November, Robichaud’s job
is to organize publicity for and promote the rapper’s new album,
Self Explanatory.

This treatment is a change for Boyd, the 31-year-old who grew up in
Enfield, a small town between Halifax and Truro. Classified’s been
making hip-hop demos since he was 16 and mailing them to record
companies trying to get some attention.

Before signing to Sony, Classified wasn’t doing badly for himself.
His last two albums, Boy-Cott-In The Industry (2005) and
Hitch Hikin’ Music (2006), were Juno nominated, and won ECMAs.
Last year, he opened for Nas in Halifax and is fresh off his first
European tour, opening for Detroit’s D-12 and Royce Da 5’9 in
March.

Classified’s a leader of the independent Canadian hip-hop scene. In
2003, he started Halflife Records, recording and producing his own as
well as other local artists’ music on his home-based label.

So is Class the pun of his own joke, moving from boycotting to being
caught in the industry?

“I haven’t lost anything, and that’s my whole thing,” says the
rapper, wearing a baggy black hoodie and bright red ball cap. “A lot of
my boys said I can’t sign to a major, but I still own all my own
publishing and I make more money in albums than doing this
independently. It all made sense.”

He wrote, recorded and produced Self Explanatory in his
Enfield home studio. Boyd paid for his own mixing and mastering to
ensure full control over the sound. Sony takes care of everything else,
from setting up interviews to making sure CDs are in stores and footing
the promotional bill.

“I hate dealing with the business side,” says Boyd. “That there’s
people and money behind me takes weight off my shoulders. Now I can
chill and do my music thing.”

The album has 22 tracks, six of which are a Choose Your Own
Adventure theme—skip ahead to certain songs depending on whether
“you’d like to go to the city” or “for a quick ride on the old
bicycle.”

As with other Classified albums, tracks are littered with guest
appearances ranging from artists like his brother Mike (Mic) Boyd and
Joel Plaskett, to hip-hop heavyweights like Choclair and Royce Da
5’9.

Classified’s beats are musically dynamic, layering drum and bass
lines with interesting guitar riffs and catchy hooks. His rhymes centre
around everyday activities like smoking too much pot or hanging at a
club. On track 2, “Get Out The Way,” he rhymes, “Shit I ain’t nothin’
astoundin’/From the underground so of course I stay grounded” over a
bongo drum line and Spanish-sounding guitar.

“I do the exact same shit,” he says of his life post-record deal. “I
haven’t done anything different since I was 26. I do music nine-to-five
like a normal job, have supper, go hang out with the boys and just
chill.”

Classified has genuine excitement about his success without a trace
of pompousness. He still lives in Enfield, where he’s moving to a
bigger house with his wife Kim and their seven-month-old daughter,
Taylor Sophia. Since the end of April he’s been playing shows on his
27-stop all-Canadian tour, which includes small towns such as
Lethbridge, Alberta, and Cobalt, Ontario. He says if things don’t work
out with Sony, he’ll put the next one out on his own.

Robichaud puts down his paper when the conversation turns to how
much human-power Sony puts into backing the rapper. Boyd casually
estimates 10 to 20 people.

“It’s not like 10 people behind you now,” Robichaud is quick to
point out. “It’s everyone from the president, to the people in the
warehouse who pack those boxes and ship the CDs. It’s the whole
company.”

“It was me and one guy before,” says Boyd, smiling. “That’s the big
difference.”

This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.