Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"Call it hippie-hop if you want, but it's so fresh it sparkles with static electricity" - NNNN- NOW MAGAZINE
"infuriatingly catchy and rather special" - Q Magazine
“Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff is replete with beats, scratches and rhymes, but vocal harmonies, buoyant acoustic guitar and pop choruses lift it out of the urban music pigeonhole” - See Magazine
"a bit of a corker to say the least... think Beck singing with De La Soul, backed my Macy Gray... as good an album as your likely to buy this year. 9 out of 10" - - Unbarred Magazine
"Spek's album Don't Sweat The Small Stuff defies explanation. How did he manage not to sound like anyone else and yet still come up with music that could be played on any and every radio show, from underground to mainstream?" - BBC RADIO, London Live
“…One of the most innovative, intelligent and catchiest rap albums I have heard in many a long year” - BBC Radio, Andy Kershaw Show
"Spek oozes with cool and his musical style is as fresh as a bakers loaf. "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" is a bouncy, fun filled c.d. that is impossible to dislike" - Pubspeak
"The coolest canuck since Neil Young"
- Virtual Cardiff
"Like Prince and De La Soul in a mucky mudwrestle. Exceptional."
- Loaded Magazine (10 out of 10)
"a gentle and genial collection of dreamy love songs and street smart hip hop grooves" - The (London)Times
Discography
I'm A Hippie/Single (The Echo Label, 2001)
Look Me Up E.P (The Echo Label, 2001) UK Release Only
Don't Sweat The Small Stuff (The Echo Label/UK, Awesome DKD/EMI/ Canada, 2002)
Radio/Video Singles in Canada:
Smell The Coffee (Medium-Heavy Rotation: Muchmusic, Muchmore Music, MTV Canada)
I'm A Hippie (Medium Rotation: Muchmusic, Muchmore Music, MTV Canada, Top 30 CHR Canadian Radio single, Top 30 Hot AC Radio single)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Literally schooled on hip hop, Spek started swapping rhymes at the impressionable age of 14 in his hometown of Montreal and never looked back. Tutored through his tenure with world-recognized boombasters the Dream Warriors, he continued his quest for knowledge in London, England. An incubator of sorts for his ideas, Spek found himself touring with multi-million selling British Jazz-Rap crew Us3 across Europe at the height of their popularity. Hooking up with musical partner Brian Rose (Robbie Williams), Spek has already made his mark across the pond having collaborated with members of Jamiroquoi and Mercury nominated Nitin Sawhney (whose album Beyond Skin featuring Spek was highly touted in the UK press by Sting and Madonna) . Hes already appeared on name drop worthy shows like BBCs Later (with Jools Holland), and had his single Smell The Coffee used several times on the U.Ks favourite obsession, the BBCs highly rated mainstay Eastenders.
Seemingly taking on a life of its own, Smell The Coffee has most recently been taken on by cell phone giant Nokia for use in their North American television ad campaign, premiered in Jan.2003 during the Nokia sponsored SugarBowl on ABC. Dreamworks films have recently also jumped on the Spek train, using Smell The Coffee in all worldwide trailers for their upcoming film Envy starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Christopher Walken (due for release in April 2004).
Using his own hybrid of acoustic guitars, folk and pop sensibilities supported by a hip hop backbone, Spek has spread his word while playing all over the U.K and Canada with the likes of Nelly Furtado, Alicia Keys, Remy Shand, and the Fun Lovin Criminals as well as snapping up a spot at Britains legendarily ultra cool Reading and Leeds Festivals. Garnering hard to come by kudos (voted number one on MTV UKs Daily Chart Live for his Look Me Up video/ scoring a Top 30 smash with his single Im A Hippie in his native Canada). Speks trippy Beatles holding court with De La Soul, Mazzy Star and Simon and Garfunkel style of music left quite an impression.
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