The Posterz accomplished 10 years ago what Planet Giza is achieving: European tour, on the bill of numerous festivals, wide media coverage, songs on popular playlists, interest from various record labels. So, when the adventure ended prematurely, Kris the $pirit’s morale was seriously affected.
“I gave up rap,” he confides bluntly. We failed to deliver the album that would have taken us elsewhere. Nate Husser is gone [à Los Angeles] to continue solo and it was over for me. »
Excerpt fromOn & On (with Lolly D)
Toutefois, le hip-hop oriente la vie de Kris the $pirit depuis qu’il a 10 ans et sa passion pour la musique n’allait pas s’éteindre si subitement. En 2018, Make It Rain Records, défunte division hip-hop de l’étiquette montréalaise Bonsound, lui a offert un contrat qui relançait officiellement sa carrière. Kris a rapidement proposé les albums Spirit Mode Vol. 1 et The Prana. Mais, de son propre aveu, il « n’avai[t] not yet an ear for quality.”
I was very nonchalant. I went to the studio to have fun and the result didn’t matter to me. This formula worked for The Posterz because our production was superior, but I realized that a certain quality was now expected of me.
Kris the $pirit
Thus, the English-speaking Montreal rapper spent the following years searching for the sound that best represented him. The one with electro accents, produced in the company of Eva Shaw, allowed him to accumulate hundreds of thousands of plays, but that is not what he decided to offer on his “real project”. “I chose to tell my real story with beats that fit it. I wanted cohesion in the themes. It’s my best work, my favorite,” he says.
Before gentrification
So, The Kings of Dog Town tells the story of the time before the gentrification of Pointe-Saint-Charles, where Kris grew up, and the surrounding neighborhoods of Verdun and Saint-Henri.
“It’s like a documentary about my neighborhood and my childhood until my early twenties. It’s dark, it’s sad. It’s the truth, explains the man who was born into a large family of Jamaican origin. Pointe-Saint-Charles was ravaged by poverty, drugs, violence and racism long before I lived there. I wanted people to feel it and hear it. »
In addition to the lugubrious stories of the streets of southwest Montreal told by the hoarse voice and the flow precision from Kris, as well as the rich and sinister atmospheres of VNCE – then Mike Shabb on the second track, Fear God –, The Kings of Dog Town is peppered with interludes that recount the harsh history of the sector. The album also benefits from the punchy words of Akshun Man and the melodious choruses of Lolly D. Only the brilliant Do, The Outcast, Rvlr Magz and Nate Husser rap alongside Kris on his first record in six years.
Excerpt fromAnother Day (with Rvlr Magz, Nate Husser and Lolly D)
“Nate is more of a friend than a bandmate now,” Kris says of the Posterz’s other voice. It was with him that I started recording as a teenager, in a community center. Even in L.A., he’s there for me. He was the one who allowed me to work with Eva Shaw. He gives my name when we’re looking for someone to write for other artists, like Nicki Minaj. We’re still getting offers for The Posterz, but the music we’re being offered isn’t the music we want to make. »
New in April
What Kris the $pirit wants to do is not just darkness and melancholy. An enhanced version of four additional songs from The Kings of Dog Town will be launched in April and these have a completely different rhythm. Produced by Kris and Rob Mil, they are drum and bass inspired and demonstrate the artist’s versatility.
“This sound stood out from the album, but I don’t know of any other rappers who have mastered it. I rap, I produce, I sample and I have fun with this sound. That’s my signature right now. »
Kris the $pirit will open for DillanPonders at L’Escogriffe in Montreal on March 16, in addition to offering shows in Ottawa, London and Toronto.
Listen The Kings of Dog Townby Kris the $pirit
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