DK

What would the banging yet smooth beats of DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and the sonic architects of ’90s boom-bap sound like today? Award winning Nova Scotian-based producer Darrell Kelloway aka DK has answered that question with his warm, analog-meets-digital hybrids of wistful yet modern boom-bap.

DK’s 2022 award winning project 'Listen to the Masters' (Fat Beats), was a collaboration with revered Canadian MC Ghettosocks that featured elite rappers like CL Smooth, O.C., El Da Sensei, and Rome Streetz. Listen to the Masters generated much-deserved buzz from press and radio shows. Complex CA and The Globe and Mail interviewed DK about working with CL Smooth and praised the project, while Okayplayer said DK and Ghettosocks put on a “boom bap clinic.” Songs from Listen to the Masters have appeared on Statik Selektah’s “Showoff Radio” and DJ Eclipse’s “RapIsOuttaControl” on Shade 45. The legendary Chuck D also led off his “...And You Don’t Stop” radio show with “The Masters” (with CL Smooth and El Da Sensei), later tweeting, “It’s flawless work coupled with giants.”

'Atlantic Rap Vol. 1' is DK’s latest award nominated compilation, the first of a three-volume showcase of brilliant lyricists from North America’s underground that bumps to the sounds of DK’s knocking and imaginative boom-bap. Atlantic Rap Vol. 1 is a highlight reel from the long-celebrated and the next to blow up.