MC Shadow

Kory Neely (born June 30th, 1970), better known as MC Shadow, is a Canadian rapper, actor, music & film producer and author who achieved fame for being on the first Hip Hop record in Canada to be released outside of the country and achieve international sales. His group Get Loose Crew was the first Canadian rap group to produce an independent Hip Hop record and attain global revenues under their self-established Indie label East Park Productions. Neely gained notoriety as the first white Hip Hop artist in Canada and as the second in the world in music history to be recorded on vinyl. While the American group Beastie Boys had released their rap recording years earlier, Hip hop historians have debated that their origins as a punk music band are different than Shadow. He was originally a hip hop artist and many regard him as the first white hip hop artist. The relevancy of this discussion is simply due to the rarity of white rappers in the history of this established African American genre. He also had a brief solo career after the Get Loose Crew disbanded in 1990, appearing on several CD compilations under the title JUST Me. In 2015, after a lengthy hiatus he returned to the music scene with several singles and a music video trilogy; edited into a short film format for Festival submission. Several songs from his catalog were scored into episodes and the soundtrack of US Television series Front Men (2017). Neely is actively working in the Film & Television industry as an Executive Producer and appearing in a series listed as in production. CRITICAL ACCLAIM May 1988: Urban music record chart CHEER Backfield in motion, Toronto listed the Get Loose Crew song WANNABE in 5th position. June 1988: STREETSOUND Magazine. Interview with Jonbronski Adams (with Get Loose Crew) Discussing the new Hip Hop era in Canada. September 2014: BlogTo, an online magazine in Toronto, published an article that included the Get Loose Crew album (with an honourable mention) as part of their compiled ‘10 most collectable Toronto albums of all time’ list. October 2015: The song Resurrection debuted on Canadian Independent Campus Radio Music Chart !earshot in the #5 position, holding that spot for several weeks and garnering nationwide airplay. October 2015: A music review by aspiring journalist Samantha Stevens at the Voice Magazine (a university publication available online) described MC Shadow’s latest singles as “phenomenal and a credit to the rap and hip-hop genres.” 2004 - Present: NARDWUAR - Legendary Canadian interviewer and musician Nardwuar (John Ruskin) has been a proactive voice confirming and validating the status of the Get Loose Crew and their accomplishment within the Hip Hop music industry for years. 2020 - Identified as “a prominent member of “Toronto’s Hip Hop history and the history of Canada’s culture industries” by Dr. Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert PhD of the Jackman Humanities Institute, at the University of Toronto. She has referred to Shadow as “an Architect in the Canadian Hip Hop Music scene” Shadow’s direct contributions, efforts, and memorabilia as a Hip-Hop artist from the early years in 1984 through to 2021 have been officially documented into the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA), a joint initiative of CCA, the Provincial and Territorial Archival Networks, and Library and Archives Canada (LAC)