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Vou 27 | NO3 |

ATHE CADRE

THE UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND’S STUDENT VOICE OCTOBER 25, 2006

WWwW.CADRE.UPEI.CA

“KOS AND CONFUSION Ai

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_IRRAR *

Photos: Courtesy of UPEI Nexus Yearbook

k-os performing at the Wave

Photos: Courtesy of UPEI Nexus Yearbook This is what most of the crowd got to see at the Wave on Friday Night: k-os’s back.

Nathan Gill Reporter

Grammy nominated and Juno award winning artist k-os walked off stage during his performance at the Wave on Oct. 20. While the rumour mills spun into high gear with stories relating to k-os being on drugs, frustrated with a poor turnout and even him contracting the Norwalk Virus, the official reason was he was feeling under the weather. Engineering student Justin Gallant was in the crowd on Friday night.

“P’'m kind of sad that I wasted my time. Tjust hope I'll be able to get my money back.”

While there has been no word yet if any refunds will be handed out, at $15 ($12 in advance) a ticket, and k-os only performing for approximately 40 minutes, it left those attending the show with much to be desired.

As the show progressed it was clear that k-os’ condition was worsening. Near the end of the show he even

pulled his hood over his head, stopped -

singing and stood in a corner of the

stage.

Dave Fleming, a UPEI student attending the show, said he wasn’t impressed either.

“k-os acted entirely different from the last time he was here.”

Fleming discussed how the Whitby, Ontario artist spent very little time engaging the audience and clearly appeared agitated.

“He said something about getting people in from the hallway and generally looked like he did not belong on stage,” said Fleming.

Gallant said k-os asked for the lights to be turned off before leaving the stage only to return several minutes later with a garbage bag of popcorn, later identified by Wave staff as being left over from trivia on Wednesday night, which he tore open and dumped out on stage before tossing the bag into the crowd. Shortly after k-os slipped away and made a break for the hotel. The band continued without their emcee for several minutes before a notice came over the PA that he wasn’t feeling well and that the night had ended.

A few hours before the debacle of Friday night’s show k-os sat down to discuss a variety of topics including his

new album, Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, his collaborations with other artists and the hip-hop lifestyle. For a man who went on to stir up frustration in so many fans, he was friendly, informative and well- presented. The interview can be heard in its entirety in the coming weeks in a feature podcast on Radio @ UPEI (radio.upei.ca).

It’s hard to deny k-os integrity as an artist. He feels his brand of hip hop is different because he approaches it from songwriting.

“T love the art of making a song, but I love hip hop also.”

Moreover, his approach to writing songs for his latest release has become a lot more personal.

- “For so long I didn’t want to talk

about certain things in my music. I wanted to come off as someone who was above things and it was kind of a lie ... now it’s a bit easier to express my own feelings.”

Through the process of making the record, he was inspired to state his truth, and by doing so found that people derive their own truth in his music.

“That’s when you know you’ve made a good record, when people

personalize it. When Bridge to Nowhere came out I was like ‘Ts this about me?’ to Sam [Roberts].”

While purely speculation, k-os’ identification with Bridge to Nowhere could provide some insight as to why he slipped out the back and kept moving on after Friday night’s performance.