Long before Gnarls Barkley blew up making genre defying music, Canadian emcee/producer/singer extraordinaire K-OS has been drawing rave reviews for his incredible brand of music that just can’t be categorized. After turning heads in the mid 90’s with hits such as "Rise Like The Sun", Kevin Brereton took a long hiatus before returning in 2002 with the critically acclaimed Exit. This was nothing compared to the fanfare he would receive for his 2004 follow up Joyful Rebellion. The album went platinum in Canada as it appealed to listeners across the board with its jazz, rock, reggae, pop and straight b-boy influenced music.  2007 saw K-OS release Atlantis: Hymns for Disco worldwide, fueled by hit single "Sunday Morning".

HHDX: Being a fellow Canadian I know that Atlantis has been out here since October, how has the reception been for it from your perspective?
K-OS: I don’t know man, it’s hard for me. Last record I had friends call me all the time telling "yo I just heard 'Crabbucket' on the radio." But now they’ve gotten used to hearing me and don’t wanna call me every time I’m on the radio. But I’ve kinda lost that gauge. All you can really do is walk around and live and see how often you hear the record, might be in a club or just some diner or café around the corner. Touring always helps too, but it’s always kinda strange here. Like I was out in Victoria and did "Born To Rhyme" and kids loved it. I was just like "they know this?" It’s a nice feeling though, for sure.

HHDX: Here they play your songs on hip hop radio, alternative radio, even on some adult contemporary stations. Do you think that you’ll be able to break the same way in the US and get love from every market?
K-OS: I don’t know, the US is just a different market. They’ve got a different idea of what urban, black hip hop is and a lot of their minds are fixed. I don’t think it’s that they ignorant, it is that the US has a musical culture that is hundreds of years old and we really don’t. What other black artists have we really produced here? I can’t even count four or five. So sometimes I think Canada just digs having a black artist that is pertinent for radio play so everyone is playing it more. I don’t know if that is being over modest or anything but I try to keep perspective that while I know my music is good, I’m also a minority in what I’m doing here. I think it helps the aura of the music and keeps it a bit mysterious. In the US, given how many more artists there are, I just won’t stand out as much. There are aren’t as many on the commercial level making music similar to mine, so I just really hope I can at least catch them lyrically. Continued on page 2 »