Classified: Of Alkaholiks And Diplomats

Classified is hard at work making music in his Halifax home/studio. I called him at 10 a.m. and he was already on the grind, working on his upcoming full-length which he anticipates will see the light sometime this summer. Until then, check out his new While You Were Sleeping EP to tide you over.

ChartAttack: So what can people expect from your newest material?
Classified: Same. Same, but upgraded. New year, new life, new everything. Got a new beat machine but, you know, same process as far as going about it. I've kind of got my structure, my way of creating songs... my formula, I guess. I'm just growing in life and getting older. I just turned 30 this past week so I see different things in the world, understand life a little bit more, and writing about it.

Do you have any featured artists lined up?
Nothing yet. I never do my guest spots until the last few songs. I always try to make the best album that I can by myself first. I don't like to rely on guest spots. I guess I always like that to be kind of a bonus thing on the album.</P>

Do you find for a Canadian MC to feature an American rapper on an album kind of adds a certain level of legitimacy to what you're doing?
I'd say five years ago, yeah. But now, no. Everyone's kind of realizing that if you've got some money you can pay pretty much anyone to get on your record. I think Canada's kind of realized that now. A couple years ago it was like, "Oh shit, that guy's got so and so on his album. He's huge in the States." Now it's kind of like…

Now they all have JR Writer from Diplomats…
Yeah (laughs), he's been used like 15 times. Even Royce, I've seen him pop on a few Canadian artists now. But nah, I guess I never really did it for that reason. It was always cool, like, when I did my track with Royce I thought it was a big accomplishment for me, something I was excited about. At the same time I just want to work with artists that I like as an artist, not just because they've got a name and they're big in the States, but because they're dope. They're good at what they do and they just make the song better.

You worked with Alkaholiks. They've been my one of my favourites since I was, like, 15.
Yeah, like when I hooked that shit up with Tash, I was way more ecstatic for that than I was for the Royce one because I've been a huge fan of the 'Liks since way back in the day. Even when I got on the phone with him, I told him that. I'm like, "Yo man, this is crazy. I'm a huge fan." He's like, "Ah, that's cool, man. I was like that with LL Cool J." So he was really cool about it the same way, too. But I might actually be doing more shit with Tash in the future.

Do you put out albums so frequently to meet the demands of fans or just to meet your own personal creativity?
Not even. I don't know, I just kind of put it out and then start the next one. I'm always working on music whether it's mine or somebody else's. I don't like to sit on my shit when my album's done. I guess that's why I've always put out my own albums on my own label, because no one's gonna sign me anyway and I don't want to sit there and wait three years to be on the back end. So as soon as an album's done I just put it together and put it right out."

Would you like to be signed to a large label?
Hell yeah. Who wouldn't if it was right? But, you know what I mean, nowadays the industry is so messed up in a lot of different ways. Record labels don't just come at you with a million bucks saying, "We want to sign you now." It's a lot different. I hate the industry. I've let everyone know many times in my music. I don't like a lot of the way things are done, and everyone's trying to rip somebody off so they can get ahead and feed their own family. I don't really like dealing with it, but at the same time, it's what I do. I make music so I've got to deal with it. If a good deal came and it seemed like they were really feeling it and they could push what I'm trying to do, then definitely.