Classified has been making music for over two decades, and it’s been a slow and steady grind to success. Hailing from Enfield, Nova Scotia, Canada, the MC/producer founded Half Life Records in 1995, and would go almost ten albums deep before gaining national recognition. He first got a national distribution deal for his ninth album, 2003’s Trial & Error, and with future releases would go on to win Much Music Video Awards, Juno Awards, and Canadian platinum plaques. Over the span of 15 albums, many of them self-produced, he’s been able to collaborate with Hip-Hop heavyweights like Royce Da 5’9″, Joe Budden, Snoop Dogg, DJ Premier, Raekwon, Brother Ali, and of course iconic Canadian peers like Maestro Fresh Wes, Saukrates, Choclair, Kardinal Offishall, Shad, and Madchild.

After putting in consistent work to become one of Canada’s all-time Rap greats, Classified is now in a different space. He achieved his first platinum-selling album with 2013’s Classified, and followed it up with his most personal album to date, 2016’s Greatful, but has since taken a couple years off to be at home. He now releases his new single, “Changes,” which breaks down exactly where his frame of mind is.

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The music video (one of several versions) sees the personification of the Discman, which abruptly became “ancient technology” when the music industry shifted into the digital age. The Discman character goes through common highs and lows throughout the video, like gaining a job only to lose it, getting high only to go through addiction, and dating a girl only to catch her cheating. Meanwhile, Classified can be heard rapping about his own problems, like trying to balance his music career with fatherhood, finding his place in Hip-Hop’s changing landscape, and ultimately losing his passion for the music.

The song shows Classified feeling his art is becoming obsolete like the Discman, but just as diehard fans still collect CDs and vinyl, it’s the fans that keep bringing Classified back to the studio: “I used to convince my fans to believe in me and my truth / But now my fans believe in me, maybe more than I do.”

Past Ambrosia For Heads “Ready Or Not” Features.

Marking his first release in two years, “Changes” will be featured on Classified’s upcoming EP, Tomorrow Could Be…, which is set to release on June 29, 2018.

Photograph by Riley Smith.

About Ready Or Not: “Ready Or Not” is Ambrosia For Heads’s platform for showcasing new videos and having you, the people, decide whether they are ready for primetime. Each week, AFH will showcase music from artists on the verge, looking for their seat at the table among Hip-Hop’s elite.

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#BonusBeat: Check out the other video version for “Changes”: