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K-os at the end of the Snowboard Worlds

Canadian superstar of conscious hip-hop to play conference centre show

Who: k-os

What: FIS Snowboard World Championships

Where: Telus Conference Centre

When: Saturday, Jan. 22

Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door

The FIS Snowboard World Championships in Whistler will end in a B-Boy stance.

Canadian hip-hop superstar k-os is set to perform at the Telus Conference Centre next Saturday night following the closing ceremonies. The artist is currently riding a wave of hits from his heralded August 2004 release Joyful Rebellion .

The follow up to 2002 debut release Exit , which was awarded International Album of the Year at the 2003 Source Awards, Rebellion burst onto the scene with the single B-Boy Stance, a declaration of sorts of the artist’s desire to stay true to hip-hop’s roots.

The album’s initial success has been maintained with strong follow up tracks like the infectious, danceworthy Crabbuckit and the funky, introspective Man I Used to Be.

Tracks like B-Boy Stance and previous offerings like the breakdance showcase Superstarr Part 0 have distinguished k-os in the saturated world of commercial hip-hop, giving the artist the air of a hip-hop scholar, rather than just another MC. He courts the image with a resolute esteem of the genre’s original pillars of B-boying and emceeing, and open disdain for the materialistic/misogynistic bling-fest many of his contemporaries have embraced.

"Hip-hop is an abandoned ship, and its vanguards are moving on to do other things," k-os has said. "Everyone wants to be a rock star because they don’t know how to take hip-hop to the next level."

Ironically, in holding fast to hip-hop’s roots, k-os has established himself at the forefront of progression. B-boy Stance has been lauded as a "rap reclamation masterpiece that lyrically embraces hip-hop’s storied past, and is even made to sound like it could have been recorded during rap’s Golden Age in the ’80s."

Perhaps rap’s golden age is long tarnished, but it looks like the Toronto MC has the skills to polish it up again.

Whistler hip-hop fans can catch the rapper when he wraps up the Worlds next weekend. Tickets are currently selling through TicketMaster for $15 and will increase to $20 at the door.

For more information on the 2005 World Snowboard Championships in Whistler go to www.whistlerworlds.com.