Happy Birthday Sha Stimuli: You changed my life

Zoi August 9, 2012 0

“Who is your favorite rapper?”

During a promo run for Bad-Perm.com I was asked that very question by multiple media outlets. The answer is always “Sha Stimuli”. If you’re asking “who’s Sha Stimuli?” at this moment, keep reading.

Sherod Khaalis was born on August 9th 1963….or so he says. This is Sha. Sarcastic ass Sha. I’ve been trying to figure out his age since the day I met him but he sticks to it and says he’s 47. He thinks it’s funny and says it with a straight face. As some of you know, although I’m currently living in NYC I am originally from Toronto,Canada. Sha has asked me 101 questions about Canada which include: “Are there roads in Canada?”, “do you guys have police there?”, “you live in houses?” and my favorite so far: “Who is the King of Canada?”. This jokester is a small part of who Sherod Khaalis is. When it comes to the music; he’s one of the greatest lyricists I’ve ever heard in my life.

How I came across his music: 3 years ago I was a girl who liked to write rap songs and record them. One day in the studio, my engineer, Jeff pointed out to me that my flow needed to switch up a little in the song I was recording. He filled up my flash drive with 7 emcees that I had never heard of before. I went home, started listening to the songs in the playlist he made me and then a track came on that changed my life, Good Day by Sha Stimuli.

For the next year this song made an impact on me every single working day that I had. I was in a not so great relationship that was coming to an end, I had no hobbies,talents,passions….nada. I swallowed a buffet of anti depressant medication and anxiety pills daily; was numb to emotions and really thought my life was empty. It’s crazy how I went from feeling empty inside to appreciating all the things I DID have in my life in the 3 minutes and 52 seconds that I played this song every single day during the commute to work. This song sparked a change in me. I left my relationship and got off of the medication. I began to write songs as therapy, recorded a few and performed at dozens of shows. I was going out, enjoying life, meeting likeminded people and creating music. I had finally found passion in something; the music industry.

The rapping faded out of my life once I realized that I didn’t like the attention an artist gets from, well, everyone…and my focus turned to learning the promotion and marketing aspect of the game. Who better to promote than my new found favorite rapper? I had spent months listening to all of the mixtapes that Sha released in 2008 with Dj Victorious and hours on Youtube catching up on anything that was released prior to finding out about him. We had started to communicate through social media and after a little while, I joined Sha’s team to help out with his promo. I learned a lot in the time that I worked for him and took in everything like a sponge. I was new to the industry and had finally found something to be passionate about. All those years of not having interest in anything except cooking,cleaning and my man were over and I was on my way to learning and creating the new me ( which also happens to be the name of Sha’s new project. The New Me: Sherod Khaalis).

From taking me under his wing,helping me develop my skills and putting me in meetings that have changed my life, to creating music that has been the soundtrack of my days: Sha Stimuli has played a significant role in my life. Happy Birthday Sha. My favorite rapper….and my favorite person that raps.

Now that you know who Sha Stimuli is to me, lets get you familiar with his music. You can check out all of his projects on his website at http://shastimuli.com/shop/ and make sure to check out #TheRentTapeSeries . Sha has decided to sell his music independently on his website and he’s releasing an E.P a month for all of 2012 in order to pay his rent. Listen, support and share! Click here to check out the E.P’s

Earlier in the year Sha Stimuli also released his first book. The Toilette Papers: The #1 number 2 book can be purchased here

Follow @ShaStimuli on twitter

Like Sha Stimuli on Facebook