Shad thinks of hip hop in geographic terms.

And luckily, the Vancouver-based, Kenyan-born artist (real name Shadrach Kabango) has one of the genre’s most treasured sounds in mind — that of the mid-’90s Eastern States.

“It all happens subconsciously … depending on the environment you’re in … (whether) Cali or Houston or New York or Chicago,” he said. “Out here, when I was growing up I was into the New York stuff, Native Tongues, Chicago, some West Coast groups like the Pharcyde.”

Hip hop retains its regional basis in Canada. Despite our country’s smaller population, big distances mean large shifts in sound, from Buck 65’s Maritime twang to the housey snap of Edmonton’s Cadence Weapon and the A.D.D. blends of Toronto’s Keys n’ Crates. On a global level, while Shad shares some background with Somalian-born K’Naan, he’s more rooted in the North American esthetic.

“(K’naan) came to Canada when he was a lot older than I did, and so had a lot of traditional African musical influence,” said Shad. “My parents have African music and I used to listen to it at home, but I grew up more around North American music … We both speak about some similar stuff, but musically I’m more North American.”

A few tracks into Shad’s Polaris Music Prize-nominated album The Old Prince makes it clear Common is a massive influence. From the soul samples and jazz interludes to introspective spoken-word intros and lyrics that tackle everyday issues with perspective and humour, the disc recalls early Common albums such as Resurrection.

“Common is my biggest influence — he was the one guy that I liked best, because he’s the best,” said Shad. “He’s always at the next level —with the lyrics, the way he says things — on all levels. From his level of depth of insight and honesty to his straight lyrical skill.”

Shad’s mixture of soul samples and live instrumentation, heard in tracks like Hey Ocean!’s Vagabond, comes because he finds it more fun to rap alongside a human than a laptop. Production comes secondary to lyric writing: It’s more important to craft a funny, honest verse than a head-nodding beat.

“Honesty for me is not much of a challenge, since it’s always been the way I’ve operated,” he said. “There’s a lot of humour in reality, so I want to have fun and point out things that are funny.”