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Laboramus Exspectantes Vol. 1 is my third full-length studio album. I recorded it at Thunder Dome Sounds in Toronto, Canada, and Juno Award winner Eddie Bullen produced it. My concept for the album is about becoming a permanent resident of Canada. I wanted to state that I had been a part of the literary and Canadian music community. That was when I felt like an outsider in the Canadian industry.
This album features the theme “labor and expects.” I adopted it from my high school Alma, Methodist Boys High School in Kissy Mess, Mess, Freetown, Sierra Leone. I also wanted to express some feelings about hip-hop at the time. So I addressed moments in my transition to Canada. The songs have the 1990s-influenced hip-hop production to include the golden age sound in my discography. The message is if you work hard, you should expect a reward. No matter what anyone does, thinks, or says.
When I first moved to the 416, I felt like a stranger unworthy of meaningful friendships. Since I am not originally from the country, I often felt like the local DJs and others in the music scene saw it as a betrayal to promote my work even if I paid them. That made me feel like not originating from the city hindered other business offers. Often I told myself, ‘if there’s any tension between Canadians and Americans, I don’t want to waste my time choosing a side.’ I wanted to be equally loyal to both counties.
I come a long way from Africa to naturalize in America and then acquire permanent residency in Canada. I hoped to live in other countries in the future. Toronto is the ninth city I’ve lived in. I know Hip Hop strictly—no African, American, Canadian, or not, just Hip Hop. I rep for every city I’ve lived in. Therefore, I turn to the international arena to draw from where my fame resounds. I established an independent imprint to facilitate worldwide production, marketing, and advertising.
Meanwhile, I had other conflicts like being followed by what appeared as suspicious dead men walking, undercover cyber attacks, being physically drained, etc. That is what my labor entailed—fighting on various fronts at once.
Background:
After many delays, I Laboramus Exspectantes Vol. 1 on November 11th, 2014. I had meant to title it “Canadianapolis,” a term I coined to describe my vibe in Canada. I wanted to do an album based on life in Canada from the perspective of a Hiphoppa who is not from Canada and release it on December 12th, 2012. In 2011, I had some scheduling issues with my producer, Eddie Bullen, who traveled a lot that year.
Eddieworking on a high-priority project with an influential artist or organization. He is a renowned Jazz musician and master arranger who may be in any part of the globe. Whenever he returned from his travels, “tons of clients” awaited him. I even arranged to get production from New Jersey to complement the delay, but that didn’t work out. That meant I had to be patient to see this project through.
When 12: 12: 12 came up, I took the “Canadianapolis” songs recorded with Eddie and released them as the “City of Kings: RELOADED” EP. During that process, I decided to write an entirely new album, open a new record label and release that new album with a new book entitled “Hiphop KruZade… Path of a Legend”. This ambitious and defiant release date was set for July 7th, 2013.
As I wrapped up the final touches of the newly written and recorded Laboramus Exspectantes Vol. 1 album with Eddie Bullen while completing the editing of “Hiphop KurZade” with Charles Ross and Ken Cowle of Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing, one of my close friends and mentor from Sierra Leone by the name of Joseph Wisman Jr., was tragically gunned down in Philadelphia, USA. That put everything on hold. At this time, I just fell back and let everything sit for a while.
Artist-wise, I worked with a few new people. I wanted to work with Liberty Silver again, but I got seriously ill with the flu on the day we were to go to the studio. I worked with Quincy Bullen, who was working on his new album, Falesha Raquel, Sandy Neil, Kao Denero, Meena, a girl from the states called Chrystal, and a soul singer called Jasmine. When I released the album in 2014, it received widespread acclaim from music fans in Europe, the USA, and Canada.
I promoted it heavily on Soundcloud, where I pushed the songs – “Happie,” “Inspired Ur Dream,” “2 Passports,” “One More,” and “Laboramus.” This album sums up some of my experiences with hip hop from Africa to the US to Canada because the book, “Hiphop KruZade,” talks about some of the most common misconceptions of the Kulture. As a complimentary album to the book, it went into my experience of how others interacted with me as one who portrays the Kulture.*
