Classified
Self Explanatory
Sony Music Canada
2009
As Classified’s career has developed from Emcee to Producer Who Raps, his skills have rapidly increased in potency. Classified once said in an interview that he tries to make every album better than his last. And once again, he has succeeded. There is no simple explanation for Self Explanatory. With previous albums, Halifax’s underground king channeled his energy battling the industry, haters, other emcees, and the perception of the Canadian rapper. Although he occasionally drifted from these topics, the majority of his albums were a testament to his frustration as a Canadian artist who obviously deserved more attention.
On Self Explanatory, he finally finds the perfect balance between lyrical master, song writer, and production genius. By straying a bit from those all-too familiar topics, he creates a spine-rattling collage of mainstream club bangers, less than typical slow jams, inspirational messages, underground lyrical fests, obligatory posse cuts, stories, and Canadian tributes. Class has always been a great producer, but 2005’s Boy-Cott-In The Industry saw a shift from simple Triton-inspired keyboard grooves to live guitars and chopped samples. Since that album, Luke Boyd has gone from bedroom beats to studio symphonies. Self Explanatory contains Luke’s best production to date, blending live instruments, cleverly chopped samples, vocal hooks, synthesizers, and singing into melodic grooves and neck-snapping head bangers.
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