Halifax emcee Classified (née Luke Boyd) has been working, do-it-yourself fashion, for over a decade making a name for himself.
He built his name from the ground up, releasing several independent releases including his first LP Union Dues in 2001, the Juno-nominated Boy-Cott-In The Industry in 2006 and Hitch Hikin’ Music in 2007.
Amazing for a young hip hop artist based out of his home in Halifax, Classified has sold well over 40,000 records in Canada. Recently, he won the 2009 East Coast Music Award Fan’s Choice Award.
This week, Classified’s latest disc, Self-Explanatory, hits store shelves and already his single “Anybody Listening” (video embedded below) is getting regular play on MuchMusic and radio stations across the country.
Classified had a little extra help with this new release. A few months back he signed a deal with Sony Music Canada. While this might seem curious coming from a guy with a D.I.Y. attitude and history, Classified told East Coast Noise recently that it really hasn’t changed much in terms of how he does things.
“I’ve always been doing everything myself,” he says. “Manufacturing, marketing … now it’s on their heads. They’re still letting me do my thing. They said, ‘OK, go do the record,’ and I handed it in when it was done.
“I’m still making the same amount of money,” he continues. “But I get to focus on the music.”
That’s just the way he likes it. “I don’t like doing the business shit,” he explains.
With Self-Explanatory hitting stores this week, Classified has a busy schedule ahead of him. A cross-Canada tour kicks off in Vancouver April 23 and it runs pretty much non-stop until a show in Halifax on June 5. He’ll follow that up with festival dates in the summer and a tour of Australia in August.
Plus, he is still producing Halifax-based artists.
That’s not all that is keeping him busy, however. Classified is now the proud pop of a six-month-old daughter.
Things have been busy and stressful, he admits, but he adds that this is what he loves to do, so he’ll take the stress.
Asked if having a child will affect his music in any way, he says with a laugh, “I’m not doing a bunch of daddy-daughter songs yet. But it will likely change my perspective on things, on life.”
Classified will perform these east coast dates in May and June:
May 29 – Saint John, N.B. @ Ozone (19+)
May 30 – Fredericton, N.B. @ Capital Exhibition (All Ages)
June 5 – Halifax, N.S. @ The Palace (19+)
Here is the video for Classified’s current single “Anybody Listening.”
