Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of Early on KEXP, is "Home (feat. Shad & SEAL)" by Eternia & Rel McCoy from the 2021 album FREE on Fat Beats.
This past September saw two of Toronto’s hip hop stars team up for a collaborative album titled FREE. Juno-nominated rapper Eternia and Juno-winning producer Rel McCoy put together twelve tracks that flex their skills while shining a light on some of the criminally underrated talent that’s coming out of Canada.
Our Song of the Day, “Home,” sees two of those underrated talents join them, Juno-winning rapper Shad and angelic vocalist SHEAL. Inspired by and built off of the latter artist’s 2016 track of the same name, the song samples SHEAL’s emotional hook and is led by Eternia’s opening bars exploring displacement, loneliness, and homelessness. Shad then joins in for an incredible verse about his idea of home and the struggle to plant seeds while Rel’s downtempo instrumental guides them, well, home.
The song comes with a video by Noisemaker Media’s Mark Carrenceja, who focuses squarely on the faces of the artists while journeying through two of Eternia’s homes - her former Queens and, now, Toronto. Watch the video below.
