K-Os and WAXY

While many rappers point to hearing N.W.A for the first time as their formative musical experience, or owe their entire career to Nas, but far more of them than one might expect have a voracious appetite for all kinds of music, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Kevin Brereton. Brereton grew up enamoured with Slick Rick and A Tribe Called Quest, but was also a devoted fan of New Order, Depeche Mode, The Beatles and RX Bandits, and all of them would go on to deeply influence his music when he debuted as k-os in 1993. Thanks to a grant by the MuchFACT foundation, Brereton was able to release his first single “Musical Essence” independently, which was a big success around his native Canada.

In 1995. Brereton was invited to join that year's Hip-Hop Explosion Tour, sharing the stage with Rascalz and Ghetto Concept. Off the back of this tour Brereton would meet Raphael Saadiq, with whom he would partner up to record his debut album “Missing Links”. He finished the album, and even got an offer for a record deal from BMG after the release of his second single “Rise Like The Sun”. However, it was at that point that Brereton decided to withdraw from the music industry indefinitely, completely demoralised by its politics and dissatisfied with his own output. At the time, he was living with his manager in Los Angeles, California, but was invited back to Vancouver, Canada by Red1, of the aforementioned Rascalz.

While he was there, the band convinced him to guest on their album “Global Warning”, and after much convincing, agreed to do it. By the time of their album's release in 1999, Brereton had regained his confidence and was back making music again, making his live debut in the same year. k-os's debut album “Exit” came out in 2002 on Astralwerks and was an enormous critical hit that was hailed as one of the finest hip-hop records to ever come from Canada. It wasn't a huge commercial success, but by 2003, it was being nominated for Juno's, Grammy's and Source awards, securing Brereton's future as a force to be reckoned with in hip-hop. To this day, k-os remains a rapper who commands the kind of respect reserved for true icons of the genre, and while he might not have the sales certificates that they have, his music is still just as, if not more vital, and truly important, as any rapper who's ever gone Platinum. For that, he comes highly recommended.