Meet SHA-G

Intro:

Smeen Shah, better known by his stage name SHA-G, is an international hip-hop artist from Toronto.

Early Life:

SHA-G was born in Scarborough, Toronto on February 7, 1997, to a Pakistani family. In his early childhood, he was raised in the city of Toronto, jumping between his maternal grandmother’s home in Scarborough and his mother’s apartment in the city of Toronto. SHA-G grew up on the streets of Yonge and St. Claire throughout the early 2000s while his father lived in Pakistan trying to gain American citizenship.

In 2002, SHA-G moved to Atlanta, Georgia with his family when his father arrived in the States. Living paycheck to paycheck, SHA-G had a front-row seat to his parents' struggle as Pakistani immigrants living in a country post 9/11. His father was a taxi-driver, and his mother was actively trying to learn English while working at a local library. Shortly after moving to Atlanta, their no-frills apartment burned down in a terrible accident which caused further disruption to SHA-G’s childhood. In order to obtain financial stability, SHA-G was sent to live in Toronto again with his maternal grandmother as his primary caretaker. His parents decided to move closer to the Canadian border and found shelter in Niagara Falls, NY where SHA-G later joined them in 2006 with an American Green Card. He attended schools both in Toronto and in Buffalo, NY, but it wasn’t until he attended schools in Buffalo where he experienced extreme racism and islamophobia for the first time. While living in Niagara Falls, SHA-G was exposed to horrific living conditions where drug movement and gun violence was prominent in the area. As a result, SHA-G often returned to his grandmother’s home on the weekends in Toronto to seek solace from the violence and poverty he experienced.

Once his parents were financially stable, SHA-G moved to a small residential apartment in Grand Island, NY where he would finally obtain his American citizenship in 2017. He attended the local high school and the University at Buffalo where he was kicked out twice due to an undiagnosed learning disability. SHA-G would later obtain his bachelor’s degree in Psychology, proving all his critics wrong.

During his late adolescence, SHA-G found solace in rap music particularly listening to the works of Eminem, Nas, Ludacris, and Drake; and South Asian artists like Imran Khan, A. R. Rahman, and Mickey Singh, and other international artists like Mavado, Akon, and Kardinal Offishall. Once he realized that music could be an outlet for his pain and struggle, SHA-G began to write his own songs and would later return to Toronto, where he would begin recording and producing songs.

Career:

2018: Day Ones:

In 2018, SHA-G produced his single, Day Ones for a 2019 release, an Illustration of the struggle SHA-G faces between the people he started with and the life he’s living as he begins to manifest his empire. The long drought that comes with the path to success is something that he’s able to balance with the loyal family he trusts.  The song Day Ones holds a sentimental significance to SHA-G, because it is in dedication to the memory of Jaylan McWilson, who was killed by gun-violence on January 21st, 2023. Jaylan McWilson was SHA-G’s “day one” since high school and was there for him through some of the hardest trials of his life. Jaylan always encouraged SHA-G to produce songs and believed that he would one day make it big as an artist. SHA-G hopes to keep the memory of Jaylan alive in his song, Day Ones.

2020: Praying for Better Things:

In 2019, SHA-G produced his single, Praying for Better Things for a 2020 release. This song is about persisting through the king's dream of positivity even as everything in life falls apart. The apocalypse is around the corner, but his faith in God is strong and unwavering.