Q&A: Shad's new album 'Start Anew' explores the challenge of change

Originally from London, Canadian hip-hop royalty Shadrach 'Shad' Kabango releases his seventh studio album, Start Anew, on Friday.

It marks the end of a thematic trilogy for Shad, with themes focused on the state of the world and society, following in the footsteps of TAO (2021) and A Short Story About a War (2018).

Ahead of the album's release, Shad spoke with CBC's Josiah Sinanan on Afternoon Drive.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Josiah Sinanan: Tell me how you're feeling with the project being out in the world?

Shad: I feel really good. I can't lie, I feel good. It feels nice to know that I've done my job.

JS: How does this release feel different from your past projects?

SK: On one hand, each album feels different. It always feels like I'm embarking on a totally different journey, trying to describe or capture a different idea. But then I also always get to the end and I go, 'Oh, I keep saying the same thing.' Every artist at the end of the day has their sensibilities and has their concerns that really drive them. They have some message that they keep repeating over and over again. I think what it comes down to is it's what I need to hear or whatever the artist needs to hear, needs to process.

JS: I do want to talk about the project itself. It's called Start Anew, and you write that it is about 'confronting endings and stepping into unknown beginnings.' Can you unpack that?

SK: I think if I had to put it in a word, it would be courage. We're in a time of a lot of tension and a lot of challenges. And I think what I'm trying to say is: there is hope, but these times require courage because times have changed.

Some of the tensions we feel come from the fact that we all recognize this is a time of profound change. And change is hard. On some level, we go kicking and screaming into change. We resist it. It requires courage to face it, to face the reality of change.

We're in an affordability crisis. We're in a climate crisis. There's so much that's not working, and yet there's this challenge of: how do we do things differently? There's a way that we know of doing things that's become familiar to us, and it's hard to abandon those things and step into something new.

JS: This album also bookends a trilogy for you, with two previous projects. So it's also an ending, but it's called Start Anew.

SK: Exactly. I didn't know that this would be the last thing that I would have to say on this topic. [It's] almost this plot twist of, it's not the end, it's just a new beginning.