Classified Hustles In His Own Way

From the old school to the new class, underground rappers have always acted as the genre's bespectacled brown-nosers, sitting in the front row and whining, "Teacher, 50 Cent brought a gun to school! Teacher, the new producer's copying off of Just Blaze!"

Nova Scotian MC Classified might not whine, exactly, but he certainly isn't above calling out mainstream music's fashion-conscious followers.

"At the end of the day, this is a music business," says Classified, who just released his eighth full-length, Hitch Hikin' Music. "People are trying to make money off music.

"I just get pissed off when people are only making the music for the money, people who just keep copying the hot trend, never really trying anything different, or even being themselves, just saying and doing what the hot thing is at the moment."

Of course, it's easy to ignore the hot musical trends when you're a two-day dog sled ride away from the nearest record store. OK, that's a slight exaggeration, but Classified happily admits that his hometown of Enfield, N.S. isn't exactly the centre of hip-hop's expanding universe.

"I think if I came up where everyone was rhyming and making beats, I would have followed a trend a lot more. I guess I looked at it like, shit, I'm coming from Enfield, where no one barely listens to hip-hop, let alone makes it. So I figured I had to work a lot harder, and just create something a bit different, so people would recognize it and remember it."

While Class clearly views himself a musician first and a merchant second, he says many hip-hop artists and fans have their priorities reversed.

"It seems like the trend in hip-hop, and in life even, is get rich, no questions asked. 'Who cares if he didn't write that song, he got rich off of it. He's hustling. I gotta respect that, right?' That seems to be a lot of people's view now. If you're making money off of something, I gotta respect your hustle."

From 50 Cent's "Hustlers Ambition" to Rick Ross' "Hustlin'" the hustler archetype has surfaced repeatedly in mainstream rap. So what's a hustler? Well, it's essentially a successful seller. Of course, it's easy to sell people something they want or need. A real hustler sells undesirable or unnecessary products. On "U Don't Know," Jay-Z brags, "I am a hustler, baby, I sell water to a well." Unfortunately, music fans are often that well.

It's always fun to finger-point, but aren't we kind of being what the kids would call "punk-ass player-hating bitches?"

Maybe, but unlike many hypocritical hip-hop critics in the underground, Classified actually has the grades and attendance record to back up his complaints. After a decade in the game, he just released Hitch Hikin' Music, another solid sample of his effortless flow, down-to-earth lyrics and skin-tight production.

From here, the rapper says he hopes to build up HalfLife, his record label and production company. And if that doesn't work, he says he might just "get a huge deal from a major record label, blow the advance and live good for the next 10 years." Hey, you can't knock the hustle.

Here are Classified's tour dates:

Oct. 4 Regina, SK @ Manhattan Room
Oct. 5 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's
Oct. 6 Edmonton, AB @ Gingue Sky Lounge
Oct. 7 Fort McMurray, AB @ Diesel Lounge And Disco
Oct. 8 Red Deer, AB @ Sharks Garage
Oct. 9 Calgary, AB @ HiFi Club
Oct. 10 Jasper, AB @ Pete's Nightclub
Oct. 12 Salmon Arm, BC @ Live Wire
Oct. 13 Invermere, BC @ Buds
Oct. 14 Castlegar, BC @ The Element Bar And Grill
Oct. 15 Kelowna, BC @ Level
Oct. 16 Whistler, BC @ Moejoes
Oct. 17 Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar
Oct. 18 Nanaimo, BC @ The Queen's
Oct. 19 Vancouver, BC @ Atlantis
Oct. 27 Halifax, NS @ The Marquee
Nov. 11 Enfield, NS @ Curly Portables Pub