Backburner is a few different things, depending upon context.

Sometimes, Backburner Recordings and Backburner Productions are used to denote a legitimate business enterprise in the field of music. Usually this refers to production and/or engineering work by Andrew Kilgour, Dave Richardson, Shaun Ryan and/or Ryan MacKenzie. See how legit they are with their real human names? If you’re interested in having any stage of your production handled by one of those masterminds, you had better get in touch with Kilgour (based in Toronto, ON) or get in touch with Dave (based in Halifax, NS).

Backburner operates a studio in metro Halifax called The Vault. Aside from our own members, patrons have included KRS One, Tash of Tha Alkaholiks, and other notable figures. Very few Nova Scotian rap studios can boast as much!

On a day-to-day basis, though, what Backburner refers to is a diverse conglomerate of creative individuals who concern themselves with hip-hop. Jesse Dangerously’s lyrics to “The Force (Ha!)” break it down thusly:

Rappers, producers and DJs with the common goal
Of catching rec and spreading our rep like the common cold
Each loving rap but coming from a different discipline;
Seems twisted in the mix to anyone who isn’t listening.
Our collective, far from elementary, connects with
Non-identical but complementary perspectives.

Some of us are avant garde, some of us are classicists,
Most of us are both of those and all of us are active in
The actual act of rapping…

• Our beatmakers tend to be heavily informed by the grand traditions of hip-hop throughout the ages, especially but not limited to the “golden era” of sample-based composition that peaked in the early 1990s.
• Our rappers are extremely individual and creative, with strong and dynamic personalities unlike any you’ll find elsewhere. An emphasis on arresting live performances unites them as much as their propensity for studio acrobatics.
• Our DJs are all steeped in hip-hop and musical expertise; while they are cuttin’ experts with an array of styles, they all cut their teeth on mixing records to please a crowd, whether on the radio, the mixtape or right out on the dancefloor.

After forming our nucleus in Halifax, our members are presently spread out all across Canada. If you like rap at all, there is a member of Backburner you will fall in love with. If not, I’m sorry to say it but: you don’t like rap after all.