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CHANGER:
One of the newer additions to the local hip hop scene features a chameleon like character whose full name we won’t reveal to protect the innocent – for real.
Changer is a man who has had his ups and downs during his life, with a lot of the downs coming early on. The details of growing up adopted and escaping abusive situations might be enough to make you feel for the guy, but when Changer became a single father at seventeen by choice, his life became a little more difficult but a little more worthwhile. He came to a point where he realized he was in charge of his own destiny and he was going to do whatever it took to stay alive, survive and thrive. While he cherishes his anonymity (to avoid muddying up the court proceedings with his son’s birth mother), Changer does take to the stage with his own CD documenting his life – and The Single Father CD does Hamilton, and Hamilton hip hop, proud.
“I’m using this as a catalyst to move forward as a music producer and putting my money where my mouth is,” explains Changer. “I’m showing what I can do and hopefully attracting the “What I’ve learned from conscious hip hop is you don’t have to swear or talk about guns – my life to me is hardcore,” adds Changer. “It’s what makes me unique and different. Not everyone could wear twelve hats every day and go through all of the situations I’ve gone through. Social assistance in my past, being on unemployment, being an entrepreneur, going through school four different times. I don’t think I have all the answers so I’m trying to improve.
I pray that I can influence other single fathers who might be feeling they’re not strong enough.”
Changer’s songs are rife with a grim reality set in the gritty streets of Hamilton but the most important facet of the songs is that sense of hope.
The inspiration he provides is inspired by his surroundings. Hamilton landmarks are referenced repeatedly, and the leadoff single and video for ‘When I Touch You’ was mostly filmed in Hamilton – but with The Single Father release, Changer remains Hamilton proud but who knows where the music will take Changer.
“Hamilton is Changer, I am Hamilton,” opines Changer. “I am hip hop, I am what I focus on. Obviously everybody’s going to have pride in their city. It is who you are, your experiences, the good and the bad. People can complain about the dirty air or the economy, but the economic situation is global and the air problem is global so it’s not just Hamilton. Life is a changer, not just me. Hamilton has changed so much and I think it’s just going to keep changing for the better. I just love Hamilton because of the progress, because of the pain and the love and because of the possibilities. I represent that completely in my lyrics.
“I think less is more so what you can expect is a lot of call and response, a lot of interaction, a lot of fun, a lot of Black Eyed Peas party vibe,” offers Changer on the Hamilton CD release party. “Even though my album is a mixture of fun and serious, I want the show to be fun, I want people to have a good time and enjoy some Hamilton hip hop.”
Changer celebrates his CD release this Friday September 11 at The Casbah Lounge with J. De Guvna, Poetically Organized Entity, and Purpose, as special guests.
Doors open at 9pm and $10 gets you in with a free CD.
www.changerproductions.com.
Article by Ric Taylor - 2009 - View Magazine
Discography
"Tha SingleFather HipHopper" Test pilot project.
cdbaby.com/changer --- 2004.
"The Single Father" released Sept 8th, 2009
Distributed by Sonic Unyon.
Photos
Bio
Hip-hop is a game - and it's time for a game-changer.
Make that a game-ChAnGeR.
ChAnGeR. The Single Father Hip-Hoppa. Born of French, Scots and Aboriginal roots, bred on the streets of the gritty city (Hamilton,
Ontario) ChAnGeR represents an uncommon attitude in hip-hop - a new sound, a new point of view. A single father since the age of seventeen, ChAnGeR is a different voice in a genre where so many voices are exactly the damn same.
ChAnGeR has had a passion for music since he was only five years old.
Even more passionate in his teen years, ChAnGeR studied the music and honed his skills while writing, producing and performing in his rap group "The SystemEyed."
In 2003, he founded his home studio and took a second look at his artistry. It was time to get serious. It was time to make a change.
Music for ChAnGeR is more than just a party. It's the medicine that heals, the vent through which he expresses the frustrations, pride, hectic accomplishments and disappointments of being a single father in a cold hard world. He has spent most of 2009 focused on his mission - to release his upcoming album, "The Single Father."
It isn't easy to hear where ChAnGeR's sound comes from, because he imitates no one. He finds influence in artists as disparate as KRS-ONE, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, AC/DC and Big Pun; Dre, Primo, Timbaland, and the RZA/Wu. Musicians aren't his only influences. He's just as influenced by an actor/director like Sylvester Stallone, or an author like Napoleon Hill, who wrote ChAnGeR's favourite book, "Think And Grow Rich." Re-reading that book consistently, and reworking his own ideas and ideals, has helped keep him focused, driven and grounded. That drive has helped him craft his own signature sound, combining the street bounce of Dre with the raw beats of Premier, laying down rhymes that range from silly to serious.
In hip-hop, too many artists sound the same, both musically and lyrically. ChAnGeR switches it up on both sides, with fresh beats and a fresh perspective. He writes for the perspective he knows - a working artist in a middle-class town, sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his nine-year-old son. "Dead Beat Mom," for example, is like a mission statement. ChAnGeR illuminates the single father's point of view. He has seen both sides of justice in the family courts - giving up custody of his daughter when he was a teen, and recently gaining custody of his son. The biases of the court system (structured to favor mother's rights over father's rights), the challenges of raising a child alone - and maintaining an artist vision at the same time - are all part of this young father's point of view.
Check out his 2005 "trial" album "The Single Father HipHoppa" at www.cdbaby.com/changer. ChAnGeR's new company "ChAnGeR Productions" has just completed a video for his lead single, "When I Touch You.”
ChAnGeR dropped his debut on September 8, 2009. Take a listen for yourself at www.changerproductions.com
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