How do you know when an emcee is talented? When they drop a short mixtape/EP, and it’s immediately more enjoyable and interesting than 95% than everything you’ve been listening to. That’s exactly what Shad’s just managed to do. The Toronto emcee firmly established himself as a top tier emcee with his outstanding sophomore album, TSOL in 2010. He recently dropped this short little project featuring samples from some of his favorite songs growing up, and what he does in just over eleven minutes is more enjoyable and though provoking than the majority of music that’s been released this year.

Things open up with “A Milli Vanilli,” which samples “Girl You Know It’s True.” Shad immediately jumps on the new jack swing and drops some really smart rhymes about cops and racial profiling before moving into some great braggadocio rhymes in his second verse, in which drops references to the Ninja Turtles, Mozart, Kanye, and Nas. This immediately transitions into “Out Here (Cannonball)” sampling The Breeders, which is so much fun and works so well, you’ll wonder why it hasn’t been used more often. It makes for an amazing party track, complete with a chorus about coming to the party in a b-boy stance. Trust, you’ll want to rock this one to get people on the dance floor. We then get “It Ain’t Over,” which samples Lenny Kravitz, and allows Shad to drop some really heartfelt and clever lyrics about how music helped him when he was growing up. “Old Prince” is a great title, in that it both refers to the sample of “Seven,” a Prince song that just doesn’t get enough props, and the title of Shad’s first album. He then uses the space to discuss the trappings of image within hip hop. Things close out with “The Old Don,” sampling P.M. Dawn’s “Paper Doll,” giving things a real melancholy tone, as Shad provides some really moving lines about poverty and class.

And just like that, it’s over. Even for a teaser to keep fans happy while he’s working on his next album, it’s short. The thing is, though, that Shad drops so many good rhymes and has so much fun with the samples, I don’t really mind. Few albums moved me the way that TSOL did, and few emcees could do as much in eleven minutes as Shad does here on Melancholy. If that doesn’t make the case for Shad, I don’t know what does.