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K-os

k-os, born Kevin Brereton February 20, 1972 in Canada, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer of Trinidad descent. The alias "k-os" is pronounced "chaos" and in initials stands for "Knowledge of Self". Mainly a rapper and singer his music incorporate a wide variety of music genres including but not limited to rap, funk, rock, and reggae. k-os calls his music as trying to harbour a positive message while at times expressing criticism of hip hop obsession with money and fame and glorification of violence.[1] A musician as well as a producer, k-os has writen and produced a large chunk of all three of his albums. Uncommon for the hip hop genre k-os usually performs with a live band, himself sometimes playing guitar and keyboard which is also evident in some of his songs.[2]

k-os spend his youth living Trinidad later returning to Canada in his teens taking up residence in Whitby, Ontario. He emerged on the Canadian music scene with the single Musical Essence released in 1993 and the 1996 Rise Like The Sun. Dissatisfied with his musical style he withdrew from the music scene, briefly reappearing in 1999. In 2002 he released his debut album Exit. The album received positive reviews but performed relatively poor in sales. The follow up album to Exit would be Joyful Rebellion released in 2004 which garnered platinum status in Canada with six singles. Even though the album too received positive reviews it was criticized at times for speaking too extensively on the state of hip hop. k-os third album Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, was released in 2006.

Early Life

Born in Toronto, Canada on February 20, 1972 k-os along with his brother Joshua, eight years junior, were raised as Jehovah Witness parents of Trinidad descent. Moving to Trinidad in the third grade, he returned to Canada with his mother in his teens taking up residence in Whitby, Ontario. During his time in Trinidad he surrounded himself with music [3] and also became a vegetarian at 8 years of age.[4] His father worked as a computer engineer while his mother owned a cosmetics company. His father temporarily stayed behind in Trinidad to continue work.[5] k-os says that growing up he was a big fan of New Order and Depeche Mode, as well as Boogie Down Productions and Slick Rick. In 1992 he attended Carleton University for one semester to please his father.[6] He returned to Toronto attending York University but dropped out soon after the release of his first single. He said that in high school he was "insecure" and that he entered the music industry because performing made him feel "powerful and... secure" [7] Friends with Nigel Williams of the band Pocket Dwellers, Williams encouraged k-os to continue to develop his musical abilities when confronted with "difficult forays".[3]

Music Career

File:Musical essense (1993).PNG
k-os in the Musical Essence music video released in 1993.

k-os first emerged in the music industry in 1993 when he released the single Musical Essence Audio file "K-os - Musical Essence.ogg" not found with a music video financed using a VideoFACT grant. The single was produced with friends Clarence Gruff and Kevin Risto now known as Dirty Swift (50 Cent single 21 Questions).[6] Winning a MuchMusic Video Award for the single, k-os was noticed by John Salley who soon became his manager. The single gaining moderate success, k-os was then invited and featured on Canadian 1995 Hip-Hop Explosion tour with other Canadian acts like Rascalz and Ghetto Concept. Salley joined by Raphael Saadiq began work with k-os on his planned debut "Missing Links",[3] eventually releasing his second single Rise Like The Sun in 1996. Receiving an offer from BMG k-os suddenly withdrew from the music industry for a period lasting between 1996 and 1999. k-os would later say that during this time he had already completed several albums[8] but was dissatisfied with his music describing it as "pretentious and derivative" [8] and saying at the time he was still trying to figure out who he was."[8].

He continued to live with his manager Salley for a short period in Los Angeles until Red1 of the Rascals, who he befriended at the 1995 Explosion tour, invited him to move to Vancouver. There he contributed a verse and few chorus lines to the Rascalz Global Warning album released in 1999. k-os finally returned to the music scene performing at the North by Northeast music festival held in 1999 taking stage with the Vancouver band Namedropper.[8] Working on a new debut album he described his new musical focus on "doing stuff really obscure and making music for myself" while drawing inspiration from the likes of Michael Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, The Beatles, The Roots and Stevie Wonder.[9] Having a demo tape he began looking for a record company to sign with, eventually settling for Capitol Records. Management and scheduling issues soon caused the parent company EMI to transfer his record deal to their other label Astralwerks, also co-owned by Virgin Records. [10] Soon after the transfer k-os was added to the rooster of the Toronto based artist management firm Chris Smith Management.

2002-2003

On March 26, 2002 k-os released his debut album Exit in Canada to critical acclaim. The United States release followed the next year on January 28, 2003. The album incorporated several music styles, being described as a "carefully blended pastiche of hip-hop, soul, rock, R&B, and a touch of reggae" by Stylus Magazine.[11] Billboard Magazine called the album "One of the finest hip-hop records Canada has ever produced."[12] The first single and promotional track for the album was Heaven Only Knows Audio file "K-os - Heaven Only Knows.ogg" not found. Like his first single in 1993, the video for Heaven Only Knows was again sponsored by a videoFACT grant. The second single Superstarr Pt. Zero was soon release, which won "Best Music Video" award at the 2003 Urban X-Posure Awards.

After the Canadian release of the album k-os joined the tour with India.Arie across United States to promote his album. Exit despite receiving positive reviews performed poorly in sales, only selling 40,000 albums in US [13] and 27,000 in Canada according to Nielsen SoundScan.[10] The album went on to win several music awards including Album Design of the Year award at the Juno Awards of 2003 as well as being nominated in two other categories. k-os then won "Best International Hip Hop Artist" award at the Source Awards the same year. k-os would then appear and perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2003, k-os also collaborated with the The Chemical Brothers on their single "Get Yourself High". The track went on to be nominated for "Best Dance Recording" at the 2005 Grammy Awards.

2004-2005

File:K-os 2005 junos.jpg
k-os backstage at the 2005 Juno Awards ceremony.

Despite suggesting Exit might be his final album,[14] k-os released on August 24, 2004 his sophomore album, Joyful Rebellion. The album was well received and went platinum in Canada during February of 2005.[15] The album and single Crabbuckit Audio file "K-os - Crabbuckit.ogg" not found was rated #1 most downloaded album and track in the Hip Hop/Rap section at the ITunes store in Canada upon their release. The album also earned the number two spot on Rolling Stone critic Karen Bliss top ten list for 2004 describing the artist as a "destined superstar".[16] The album maintaining the same formula as Exit but was at times criticized for being too critical of mainstream hip hop with one reviewer criticizing it for speaking "extensively about the integrity of hip-hop".[17] k-os himself later described Joyful Rebellion as being "rant against the state of hip hop".[18] Joyful Rebellion featured a total of six singles. The debut single Crabbuckit was shortly followed by B-Boy Stance, Man I Used To Be and Love Song followed with music videos and the radio exclusive Crucial and Dirty Water featuring Sam Roberts. The single "Crabbuckit" went on to be nominated 3 times at the 2005 Canadian Radio Music Awards.

k-os was nominated four times at the 2004 Canadian Urban Music Awards and won two awards for the single "B-Boy Stance". Following in 2005, k-os went on to receive three Juno awards at the years Juno Awards ceremony for the album. The same year the single Crabbuckit won Best Pop Video award out of four nominations while 'Man I used to be' won MuchVibe Best Rap Video, Best Director and Best Cinematography out of a total of four nominations at the annual MuchMusic Video Awards. At the 2005 Canadian Urban Music Awards he won "Best Songwriter" and "Fan Choice Award" out of 5 nominations. On November 15, 2005 k-os released the ?Publicity Stunt? DVD. The dvd featured singles and concert footage dated back to 1998[10] as well as footage from the 2005 concert at the Molson Amphitheatre which was rated Canada's highest attended Hip Hop concert.[19] The dvd went platinum on February of 2006 in Canada according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association.[20]

In a relatively quiet dispute, some lyrics from the single B-Boy Stance were interpreted as an insult on the Toronto-based rapper K’naan. In the single k-os rapped "They took cameras to Africa for pictures to rhyme / Over; Oh, yes, the great pretenders," and “Religious entertainers who want to be life savers.”. K’naan interpreted the lyrics being aimed at him filming the music video for the single Soobax in Kenya, Africa.[21] K’naan responded to the lyrics in the song Revolutionary Avocado featured on one of his mixtapes with "You the all-knowing with a beer bottle / Wishing you was Plato and me Aristotle? / ...Suburban negro turned hip-hop hero / Is there a reason he really hates me, though?".[21] Furthermore K'naan also stated in an interview that he thought "[k-os] was out of line".[21]

2006

Early in 2006, k-os collaborated with the CBC Radio Orchestra to compose Burning To Shine. [22] A documentary chronicling the production and performance of the song aired on Canadian national television on February 02, 2006 titled after the song. k-os then traveled across Canada recording his third album stoping mainly in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. In the proceeding summer the first single from the upcoming album titled ELEctrick Heat - the seekwiLL was released. The single became the "#1 most downloaded Single of the Week" on ITunes. Shortly before the release of his third album, titled Atlantis: Hymns For Disco, k-os wrote derogatory comments on his MySpace page aimed at Jason Richards, editor for the Toronto NOW magazine, for his review of the album. k-os stated that he was angered by Richards referring to him in the review as a "crossover pop artist disguised as a true-school b-boy".[23] Part of the comment called Richards “a black man … manipulated by his indie rock nerd bosses”[24] and called on him to "eat a dick!". [24] k-os later removed the comments, stating in an interview that he was angered by the review because it was a "personal situation"[25] between himself and Richards because the two previously "had many discussions on music."[25] Also in 2006 k-os recorded a version of the John Lennons single Jealous Guy for the Make Some Noise campaign of human rights organization Amnesty International.

On October 10, 2006 Atlantis: Hymns For Disco was globally released. Atlantis, written and produced by k-os, featured collaborations with Sam Roberts, Kevin Drew and Buck 65. The album debuted with a number one spot on the Digital Albums and number five on Current Albums charts in Canada.[19] In its opening week, the album reached number 5 on Music World's top 10 albums list.[26] Maintaining the consistency of merging several different musical genres, k-os described the album as being more vocal due to him becoming more comftable with his singing voice.[27] Atlantis was also descibed as leaving behind the "social commentaries" and hip hop critique previously present on his last two albums.[28] The second single off the album was "Sunday Morning" Audio file "K-os - Sunday Morning.ogg" not found.

Discography

Singles

Year Single Peak positions
CAN US UK
1993 Musical Essence - - -
1996 Rise Like the Sun - - -
2002 Heaven Only Knows - - -
2002 Superstarr Pt. Zero - - -
2004 Crabbuckit - - -
2004 B-Boy Stance - - -
2005 Man I Used To Be - - -
2005 Love Song - - -
2005 Crucial - - -
2005 Dirty Water featuring Sam Roberts - - -
2006 ELEctrik HeaT - seekwill - - -
2006 Sunday Morning - - -

Media

Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end

References

  1. ^ Larry LeBlanc (4 September 2004). "K-OS starts 'Rebellion': Toronto MC wages war against stereotypes with sophomore set". Billboard. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Bartley Kives (21 October 2004). "The gospelaccording to k-os not about preaching to choir". Winnipeg Free Press. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Del F. Cowie (January 31, 2002). "K-OS: Organised K-OS". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Unknown. "K-OS". Peta2. Retrieved 2006-10-19.
  5. ^ Stevenson, Jane. "K-os has firm grip on his career". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2006-10-19.
  6. ^ a b Fateema Sayani (October 07, 2006). "K-Os, as the spirit moves him". The Ottawa Citizen. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ O'Brian, Amy (October 07, 2006). "Hip-hop artist known as k-os seeking, not always finding peace". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d Galloway, Matt. "K-OS". NOW. Retrieved 2006-10-19.
  9. ^ BET.com Staff. "BET.com - The Next: K-Os". BET. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
  10. ^ a b c Karen Bliss. "America to re-release k-os CD". JAM! Music. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
  11. ^ Ed Howard (September 1, 2003). "k-os". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Entertainment Editors (May 25, 2004). "k-os' Joyful Rebellion Set for Release in September on Astralwerks/Virgin; Joyful Rebellion Set to Follow-up the Award Winning 2003 Release of Exit". Business Wire. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Karen Bliss (February 02, 2006). "The joyful return of k-os". JAM! Music. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Dan Leroy (June 30, 2005). "Exit". Yahoo Music Canada. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Audio Certifications February 2005". CRIA. January 21, 2003. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Karen Bliss (December 29, 2004). "Critics' Top Ten Lists". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Tom Mantzouranis (April 20, 2005). "K-OS". PopMatters. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Cassandra Szklstski (October 12, 2006). "Canadian hip-hop artist k-os runs gamut of genres on new CD 'Atlantis'". CBC. Retrieved 2006-10-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b Unknown (October 20, 2006). "K-OS 'ATLANTIS – HYMNS FOR DISCO' DEBUTS #1 ON DIGITAL ALBUMS CHART AND #5 ON CURRENT ALBUMS CHART IN CANADA". Virgin Music. Retrieved 2006-10-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "Video Certifications February 2006". CRIA. June 30, 2005. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ a b c McKinnon, Matthew (June 30, 2005). "Kicking Up Dust". CBC. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ ChartAttack.com Staff (February 02, 2006). "K-OS Goes Orchestral In Burning To Shine". ChartAttack.com. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Richards, Jason (October 5 - 11, 2006). "K-OS Atlantis: Hymns For Disco". NOW. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ a b canada.com (October 05, 2006). "k-os fires back at reviewer". canada.com. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ a b Harris, Bill (October 11, 2006). "k-os pulls Internet critic bashing post". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2006-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ The Canadian Press (October 17, 2006). "Music World: Evanescence takes top spot in CD sales". Broadcast News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ Ida Jorgensen (October 11, 2006). "Exclusive Interview with K-OS". The Concordian. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Andrea Miller. "K-os talks about 'Hymns' inspiration". CANOE Live. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
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