CREDIT: LLIAM BUCKLEY
London-aised artist Shad released a groundbreaking concept album and shared it with his hometown at a sold out show.

On the 26th of last month, rapper and hip-hop artist Shad released his groundbreaking new concept album A Short Story About A War.

In celebration of the release, on Nov. 2, the former Londoner performed a sold out show at in his home town on the Rum Runners stage at The London Music Hall.

After opening the show with a couple new songs and some old favourites, Shad addressed the crowd, expressing his excitement with the new project.

“I'm really excited about this new album. It was a joy to put together”, he said enthusiastically.

With a span of five years since the release of his last major album, Adult Contempt, the artist has shown an obvious maturing in this new release, both from a compositional and thematic point of view. This unique piece of art was certainly worth the wait, dealing with heavy, topical issues while not losing sight of the classic production style that has become a staple to Shad's sound.

One of the most obvious differences between this album and Shad's previous releases comes with the fact that this work is presented as a concept album. Where past ventures saw the artist telling stories on a song by song basis, this project takes the listener on a thirteen track epic that deals with some of his deepest subject matter to date. The songs which are interspersed with narrations by the rapper draws a perspective on the many sides and contributing factors of a war which, though fictional, draws many parallels to the world we currently live in.

A press release from Webster Media Consulting gave additional insight into the vision for this project. “It's a wildly innovative concept album which tells a cryptically realistic tale of sociopolitics in a world covered in desert,” it read.

The album seems to have seen nothing but a positive reception from critics, and although it had only been a few days since the album's release, audience members at the London show were already singing along to many of the new tracks performed that night.

Before Shad's performance, London based artist Sum-01 kicked off the night with the assistance of DJ Hullewud. Recent Fanshawe, Music Industry Arts (MIA) alumnus Ngajuana also made an appearance, joining Sum-01 on stage and performing alongside her for a song. These three hip-hop artists engaged the crowd and set the tone for what continued to be a night of high energy music.

If you missed the show at Rum Runners, don't worry. The artist is currently on tour promoting his release and has an upcoming show in Toronto on Dec.15. Get your tickets fast however, as his performance in the same venue on the previous night has already sold out.

More information on Shad's tour and his latest release A Short Story About a War can be found at ShadK.com.