October 2000
After the Snow falls
Wes Smiderle
The Ottawa Citizen
Derailed from his rap-reggae career for several years by a rap sheet,
Snow, now 31 and a father, is getting back on track. And he has a new
sound, Wes Smiderle reports.
After three albums, one seven-year-old hit single, a stint in jail and a
new daughter, Snow is eager to embark on a comeback.
The 31-year-old singer is promoting his fourth CD, Mind on the Moon,
released earlier this month. Besides being his first new album in more
than three years, the disc is also Snow's debut effort with the EMI-Virgin
label.
The new material showcases a noticeably lighter style presented by what is
essentially a brand new Snow.
"This is my second chance," says the singer, who developed his
brand of reggae patter while growing up in the "projects" of
North York. "Everything's coming together ... I'm in positive mode
now."
Although he insists he never considered himself a rapper, Snow established
a reputation in the early '90s for his rapid-fire, gangster-style
performance. His first and only major hit was 1993's Informer, a rap tune
delivered in a reggae-style Jamaican patois.
The song, inspired directly by Snow's own experiences within the Canadian
penal system, dominated charts in Canada and the U.S. It also helped lift
his first full-length release, 12 Inches of Snow, to triple platinum sales
on both sides of the border.
Unfortunately, Snow had to enjoy much of that success from the inside of a
prison cell in Maplehurst Correctional Centre, northwest of Toronto. Snow
(a.k.a. Darrin O'Brien) served two and a half years on various assault
charges.
Following the success of Informer, he released two more albums yet he
continued to grab more attention for his rap sheet than his music.
The singer credits his five-year-old daughter, nightly walks in the woods
and two and a half years as a teetotaler with helping him turn his life
around.
"Once I gave up alcohol, there was no problem," says Snow, who
stops short of describing himself as an alcoholic. "Every time I've
been in trouble it was because of alcohol."
Things began to turn around for Snow shortly after he climbed on the
wagon.
Last year he snagged a small role in the movie Prison Song, produced by
Robert DeNiro and starring rapper Q-Tip as well as Mary J. Blige and Elvis
Costello.
"That's when I knew I could focus on working on an album," says
Snow, who plays a prison guard in the movie, to be released next spring.
"Getting up at 5:30 every morning, always on time, staying in that
positive mode." As the singer changed and matured, so has the music.
The material on Mind bears little resemblance to the angry, harder-edged
jailhouse songs on 12 Inches.
In case the new direction wasn't clear enough, Snow's daughter Justuss
makes a brief appearance on the CD to announce: "This is my Daddy and
this is his new sound."
"She got it in one take," Snow says with a grin.
Snow says working with co-songwriter (and childhood friend) Robbie
Patterson helped make the project a lot more fun and relaxed than his
previous records.
"In Grade 2, we sang Bohemian Rhapsody (by Queen) together in front
of the class," he says. "Making this album with him was meant to
be."
While the new album features traces of Snow's reggae influences, Snow
basically trades in the dancehall beats for a lighter pop sound.
"I'm singing more," says Snow. "It's not like I sat down
and planned it, though. The melodies just started coming out."
The first single, Everybody Wants To Be Like You, is already receiving
heavy airplay on Canadian Top 40 radio while the video is on medium
rotation on Muchmusic as well as MuchMoremusic.
Despite the obviously radio-friendly tone of the song, Snow refers to his
newfound melodic sound as "soda" rather than pop.
"I don't know why, but I hate that word -- pop," he laughs.
Snow will probably perform in Ottawa in November as part of a
cross-country tour. The tour will mark the first time Snow has climbed
back on a live stage in more than two years.
"I haven't played in a while, but I can still do it," he says
with a smile. "Just gimme a microphone in my hand with me being happy
and comfortable ... and, ohhh man, we'll put on a show."