Even though he’s been performing for 20 years, more than a dozen of them in Kingston, it wasn’t until this year that local hip-hop artist ShizNick released his first album. Well, sort of. “It’s my first body of work where all of the music was original,” explained ShizNick, better known as Nick Murphy without a microphone in hand, about his album, “Sweet.
” “I put out what we call mixtapes before, where I was taking other people’s songs and making them my own, but none of it was mine. I couldn’t really take credit for the music.” Murphy said there wasn’t a sense of urgency to record an original album.
“I was still getting a lot of attention with what I was doing, so I rode that train for a while,” he said. “But it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to make this happen and move forward and see where I could go with it.” For now, it’s taking him to the Mansion for a show Thursday night, where he’ll be joined by hip-hop artists Pretty Boi K.
O., Grampa, Lethal Injection, the Ryan Lewis Project, Kaydence Brown and IceColdEntertainer. In addition to the music, there will also be a pop-up show for the new “For the Win” clothing line.
Part of the $10 cover charge will be donated to CFRC FM and the Kingston Youth Shelter. While he’ll be the headliner Thursday evening, he’s landed a number of opening slots in the past year for touring acts like Choclair, D12 & Obie Trice, K-os and, most recently, Lloyd Banks and G Unit. That hip-hop acts roll through Kingston more often is a change from when he first entered the local scene more than a decade ago.
Most of the shows back then featured local artists and there were just a few venues who welcomed them. “We’re definitely getting more and more acts coming through with big success,” Murphy said. “So it’s nice to see and it’s been great to be a part of that growth within the community.
” In addition to being a hip-hop performer, Murphy’s always been a supporter, too. He hosted CFRC 101.9FM’s “Northern Touch” radio show for nine years, which allowed him to interview national hip-hop acts as well as promote local ones.
In fact, it was in radio that Murphy first started, spending two years in the radio broadcasting program at Loyalist College. There, he honed his recording skills before moving to Toronto to attend Seneca College’s music production program. It was through that program that he earned an internship at Toronto’s hip-hop station, Flow 93.
5 FM. He figured if the music didn’t work out, maybe a job in radio would. “All of those things got me a foot in different doors and allowed me to see different sides of the industry and meet lots of different people with different backgrounds,” Murphy recalled.
“And then when I moved to Kingston, that’s when I really started to do shows regularly.” He and his then-girlfriend moved to Kingston because she landed a good job. They are now married and have two young children.
Now 39 years old — “I’m like an old man in the hip-hop game now,” he laughed — with a family at home and a full-time job during the day, it’s sometimes a challenge to find time for making music, he said. Still, he and Thomas Cody Shaver of local record and promotion company Synergy-SGP manage to get together once or twice a week at the Elevation Music Studio in the city’s west end. “We’ll work on new music or we’ll work on merch or we’ll practise for an upcoming show,” Murphy said.
“It’s not a lot of time. I certainly wish I had more, but I find little nooks and crannies here and there, usually in the evening after my kids have gone to bed.” Buoyed by the positive feedback for his debut record and his recent performances, plans are being made to record for a followup album, he said.
There are plans for a few micro-tours as well. “There are definitely times of, you know, you’re getting older and maybe this isn’t for you, but everything else is pointing in an upward and positive direction,” said Murphy, who feels as though he’s now at the top of his game as a lyricist. Before that happens, there’s Thursday’s show at the Mansion.
“We haven’t done a show like this in a while,” Murphy said, “where we showcase local talent and then also have a charitable element to it.” Thursday’s show takes place in the Mansion’s Wine Cellar. The cover charge is $10 and the doors open at 8 p.
m. There are plenty of choices for anyone interested in catching some live music Saturday night. The Big Phat Horn Band, which played an outdoor show last week, marks its 11th year together with a show at their home base, the RCHA Club.
It runs from 8 to 11 p.m. and cover is $25.
Across the street, at BluMartini, there’s a country jamboree featuring Abby Stewart and her band, Clem Chesterfield and the LA-Z Boy Recliners, Emilie Steele and the Deal and the Jordy Jackson Band. Cover is $20 for that show, which runs from 8 to 11:30 p.m.
In midtown, at the Mansion, there’ll be a quartet of metal bands performing: Exogen, Intolerate, Arachnia and Leitch. Doors open at 8 and cover is $10. For something on the quieter side, LazerBear returns yet again to the Domino Theatre for an “intimate evening” show of its “acoustic boss moustache rock.
” It runs from 7 to 9 p.m. and cover is $10.
Out in Bath, on the grandstand at Mackinnon Brothers Brewing Co., it’ll be July Talk headlining with Ferraro and the Empties opening. It starts at 6 p.
m. (gates at 5) and tickets are $65. There are shuttle buses departing downtown at 5:30 and the cost is $17.
On Friday night in Market Square, it’ll be the 1990s all over again when the Crash Test Dummies, known for their hits “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” “Superman’s Song,” and (sigh) “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead,” will be “Rockin’ the Square.” Opening the evening will be Kingston’s Piner at 8 p.m.
For the past several months, my social media feed has been inundated with something called “Candlelight” concerts. Now, the first two of those concerts take place Sunday at the Isabel Bader Centre. Both the 6:30 p.
m. show of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the 8:45 tribute to Taylor Swift have now sold out. While there are plenty of musical offerings this week, there’s also the 20th anniversary of the “Joe Burke Wolfe Island Literary Festival” taking place Saturday a short ferry ride away.
This year’s featured authors are Morgan Campbell, Andrew Sullivan, Dani Couture and Niko Stratis. The free event takes place at 350 Lighthouse Lane, beside Knapps Point Lighthouse, off 10th Line Road. If you do go, bring something to drink and something to sit on.
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