K-OS On The Juno Awards: "I'm Gonna Kick Nelly's Ass"

Canada's top hip-rock artist has launched a salvo across the bow of this country's top hip-pop artist.

"I'm gonna kick Nelly's ass, obviously," says Toronto rapper K-OS, in reference to his upcoming battle with Nelly Furtado at Sunday's Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Mr. B-Boy Stance will go head-to-head with the Maneater in two categories: best song, where K-OS' "Sunday Morning" is up against Furtado's "Promiscuous;" and best pop album, involving K-OS' Atlantis: Hymns For Disco and Furtado's Loose. Both K-OS and Furtado have five Juno nominations.

Competition for television screen time could come from scream-rockers Billy Talent, who also scored five nominations. They include head-to-heads with Furtado and K-OS for best single, as well as matches against K-OS for best video and Furtado in the best album category. The BT crew, however, need to keep an eye out for a resurgent Sloan, who are keen to tangle with them.

K-OS, who's interrupting a foray into the U.S. with Gym Class Heroes to be at the Junos, is quick to temper further trash-talk.

"I think that Canada has the most diplomatic artist relation situation in the world. Everyone is so cool to everyone. So these things don't become stressful, they become 'Let's hurry up and get that over so we can hang out.'"

Indeed, there's definitely a secret glue behind the scenes at the Junos that creates a sense of unity among the artists, no matter what genre of music they play or what awards they're up for... and it's generally booze.

"The bands spend so much time at the bar," says K-OS. "It's a joke to think of it as competition.

"It's more of, like, what a cool thing that five different musical entities got five different nominations and they all do such different types of music. I think that's triumph, in regards to wins, I think that's triumph in itself, you know?"

The Juno Awards air on CTV on Sunday evening. Check your local listings for broadcast times.