super duty tough work – Stylus Magazine

by Kim Wiesner

Stylus (S): Your tour with Cadence Weapon kicks off here in Winnipeg at the new Sidestage venue. How are you feeling about it?

Brendan Grey (BG): I’m feeling great. I’m excited; I think we’re all very excited. It’s going to be great to get back to all these cities which we haven’t been to in quite some time. It’s going to be interesting to be supporting Cadence Weapon. So, yeah, we’re feeling good. The blades are sharp. We’ve had a good year up until now. I think we’re just really excited to play a show in Winnipeg and then play a show in these cities to which we’ve been, but haven’t been in a second, right? Hopefully reconnect with people that we know and/or know us and then connect with some folks who maybe haven’t had the chance to see us play yet.

by Mykhailo Vil’yamson

No stranger to dropping weighty truth via their projects, Super Duty Tough Work is back with their much-anticipated second record, Paradigm Shift, and it delivers a heavy reality-dosing ten tracks of hip hop content. Formed in 2014 by emcee Brendan Grey, this from-the-floor rap outfit released their first LP back in 2019 (that was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize in 2020). However, while there is continuity from Studies in Grey in leitmotif, there has also been a deliberate tightening and nuanced sonic scope. This not only includes scaling back the use of horns on Paradigm Shift – which was quite prominent on older SDTW recordings – but also slowing things down substantially tempo-wise. In fact, only two songs on this release could be described as more upbeat, namely “New Sight” and “Dirty Hands.” This opting for more of a chill vibe was conceivably strategic, though, since it functions to compel the listener to pause and consider more fully the voice of the artist. And Super Duty has some important things to communicate.

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Artist Spotlight :: Interview with Brendan Grey of Super Duty Tough Work

Album Review :: Super Duty Tough Work :: Paradigm Shift