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Classified
Biography
Whether signed or unsigned, award-winning Canadian hip-hop artist Classified never abandoned his ethos of working hard. The Nova Scotian MC, whose real name is Luke Boyd, steadily built his career from the independent circuit on up to national prominence, developing into a highly respected MC and desired producer. By his ninth studio album, Trial & Error (2003), this average guy from the rap-deficient Maritimes (including New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) informally became the representative for hip-hop on Canada's Atlantic coast.

Boyd fell in love with hip-hop music listening to tapes of KRS-One, the Beastie Boys, and Naughty by Nature that he randomly picked up while he used to hitchhike around his hometown of Enfield, Nova Scotia. Around the age of 15, he used to mess around with his father's band and sound equipment and soon began writing rhymes. The small rural town of Enfield was not befitting of a rap music career, and thus, Classified situated himself in the more urban setting of adjacent Halifax. Still in his late teens, he founded HalfLife Records and released his first full-length, Times Up, in 1995. With the help of Halifax turntablist DJ Jorun, who gave him producing tips, Classified delivered a string of independent albums and singles from the mid- to late '90s.