By David DeRocco

While the lexicon of rap and hip hop music includes a broad expanse of rhymes and imagery, there are certain words you’d think a rapper looking to establish street cred would shy away from when spittin’ out verse. That list probably once included words like “Anne Murray,” “Gordon Lightfoot,” “Anne of Green Gables” and “P.E.I. potatoes” – but that was before the geographical boundaries of East Coast hip hop moved north of the border and into the Maritimes. Sure, Toronto might have Drizzy; but in the tiny town of Enfield, Nova Scotia, CLASSIFIED is King!

With 16 studio albums, eight Juno nominations, 17 MuchMusic Video Award nominations and a hip hop hoser anthem called “Oh Canada” to his credit, CLASSIFIED has emerged as one of this country’s hardest-working, most accessible and most consistent rappers. His 2009 hit “Oh Canada” – with its proud nationalistic defense of all things Canadian – endeared him to fans across the country. Now, with the January 15^th release of his latest album Greatful, CLASSIFIED has delivered another monster: with its epic 16-tracks, Greatful is laced with more hooks than a Nova Scotian fishing trawler. The first single, “No Pressure,” is an anthemic follow-up to his 2013 five time platinum selling smash “Inner Ninja” that chronicles the pressures of living the high life – but like the song says, “no pressure no diamonds.”

“I always feel pressure,” said the 39-year-old singer. “Obviously with what “Inner Ninja” did it was a huge song. But it wasn’t like ‘I gotta go back in and make another one of those.’ I guess I just looked at the album, and wanted to make this album better than the last album. Whether it’s musically or topic wise or rap style or whatever it is, I always put pressure on myself.”

To ensure there was no loss of momentum with the November release of Greatful’s first single, the East Coast rapper reached out to the most trusted hired gun in the West – hip hop legend Snoop Dogg lends his distinct Southern Cali vibe to “No Pressure.” Although the song had been recorded and mixed, CLASSIFIED rewrote it to accommodate Snoop’s appearance on the track after deciding the finished product didn’t measure up to his lyrical intent.

“Originally that song was just me; we had it all done and completed. But there was just something about it that was bugging me about it in the chorus. I kept hearing ‘this weekend on the east coast.’ I just didn’t want to make it an east coast song, because that’s not what the song was about. Then I thought it would be cool to get someone from the west coast and it was like, ‘maybe we can get Snoop.’ It was kind of a random comment. So we reached out to him. He wound up coming here for the Trailer Park Boys. He liked the song. I wound up taking the second verse off and let him do his thing.”

Greatful is the latest album CLASSIFIED has recorded in his home studio, which the rapper says provides him with the creative freedom and unrestricted environment he needs to record.

“I’ve only ever went to a real studio once, like rented it out for the day and tried to make something. One time around 2001, and it was awful. I hated everything about it. I couldn’t work in it. I like to be on my own time, sit in my house, do normal stuff, get an idea, run out and start working on it. Just not to be on time constraints; I think that’s the biggest thing you know, watching the clock. In my home studio I can stay as long as I want. I get 20 minutes of break after supper, the wife’s busy, the kids are doing something, so I can run out here. You think it would be distracting, but you hit the studio here you definitely get work done.”

With three years passed since the release of his last album, the self-titled CLASSIFIED, getting work done was definitely the singer’s focus over the past 12 months. While his studio location may not have changed, the process in which he developed his songs has definitely evolved, thanks in part to his favourite mobile recording device – his cellphone.

“The way it used to start was I’d come out to the studio, turn on the drum machine, cut up the kick and the snare, make some drum beats, either look through old records for samples or jump on the keyboard and make some melody. It used to always start with the music. Now I find it to be very random, even going out to get groceries, just doing everyday normal life stuff, you get little ideas for songs in your head or line ideas and I just kind of write it down on my cellphone. So a lot of times now when I start a song I wind up going through my phone first. It’s like ‘that’s a song topic, I can write about that today, let me make a beat for that.’ There’s no real format; it’s definitely just living and trying to grab little ideas that pop in the head here and there and bring them into the studio.”

What’s on CLASSIFIED’s mind these days is getting out of the studio and on the road, testing out the album’s new tracks and reconnecting with fans. “Yeah, I’m excited to get out and play the new songs, more so to break the mold of the everyday repetitive lifestyle I’ve been living coming to the studio every day; time to get out and see the world again.

Niagara fans will certainly be “greatful” when CLASSIFIED makes his local appearance September 7th at the Hamilton Place MOlson Canadian Studio. The rapper says you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy the show.

“If you’ve been to one of our shows you know it’s a real party atmosphere. We’re always going to have that party atmosphere to our show, but I think with this album there’s a lot more personal vibe to the show that you don’t even have to know my music. You can just come out to the show. We do some old Steve Miller songs, a bunch of different stuff so people from all walks of life can just come out, enjoy the show. I feel like the show can hold up for people who know the music or not. There’s no bullshit. It’s going to be a good time.”

For tickets visit  http://www.coreentertainment.ca/events/detail/classified