Snow finally chills out
By BLAIR S. WATSONCalgary Sun
Apparently Snow has stopped stormin'.
The Toronto-based rapper is best known for his chart-topping 1993 hit, Informer, and his reputation as violent-tempered lawbreaker.
Now 27 and the father of a two-year-old daughter, Snow says his wild ways are a thing of the past.
"I have been out of trouble and all that kind of stuff. I just think about goodness now," Snow says over the telephone.
"I've grown up a lot more. I'm more my dad now. I'm thinkin': Move out and get a white picket fence, but still live in Toronto. I look at life different now. When you have a little daughter, you're mostly living it for her."
Indeed, Snow -- whose real name is Darrin O'Brien -- named his third and latest album, Justuss, after his daughter.
This is a pivotal album for Snow: His second album, Murder Love, sold considerably less than his 1.3-million-selling debut, 12 Inches of Snow. He needs to show he's not a one-hit wonder.
Not that he's upset some shine has rubbed off of his once-rising star.
"I'm not up on all that fame and glory," he says. "I don't hang around and go to all them parties and stuff. I still have the same old friends, still live in Toronto. I'm the same old person."
Same old person, indeed.
Snow has never claimed to be a rocket scientist, but this doesn't stop the Grade 8 drop-out from offering social commentary in his songs. In a new tune, Freedom, he sings: "It's been so long/We've been in captivity," referring to the slaving of the Jamaican people.
Says Snow: "Black people have been ... depressed? What's the word? Oppressed? See, I don't even know the words. They've been picked on a lot.
"I'm not really into all that political kind of stuff, I usually just sing my music and hang with my friends. I'm not deeply involved in that kind of stuff. I'm not really a personal who `gravilates' (sic) on subjects, like any deep stuff. You can turn on the news and listen to all that stuff. Music is just to have fun and get away from all that troubleness."
Being half-Irish and half-Scottish, Snow says he feels a personal connection to the Jamaican people and culture.
"Irish people been -- what's the word? Oppressed? Irish people been the same way as Jamaicans, so then when I go to Jamaica there's a lot of Irish people."
Yet, this white kid from Ontario creates surprisingly authentic Jamaican dancehall music, highlighted by his own rapid-fire scatting.
"(My) producers brought it out of me in Jamaica," Snow explains.
"They know what's good or bad, what's really the good words to say. They can lead me in the right direction."