Mikhail Gorbachev once said, “If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward,” and that’s probably where the similarities between the former leader of the Soviet Union and Halifax rapper Tachichi start and end, but for the purposes of this article we’ll let the comparison stand. In 1997, a young Tachichi recorded He Who Laughs Last, his would-be debut album, with producer and rapper Sixtoo.
When the album’s master copies were damaged before it could be released, Tachichi wasn’t one to dwell; he simply moved forward and didn’t look back for 22 years…
“This is my first album I’ve ever recorded when I was 17 years of age,” says Tachichi. “My first song I’ve ever recorded was a song that I did with Jo Run on the beat”
The first song Tachichi – known as Little T back then – ever recorded, was performed with Jo Run over the beat of ‘Hard like Titanium.’ It was performing that first song that he says got the attention of Sixtoo, Buck 65 and DJ Moves. It was a seminal moment for his career, and the beginning of a decades-spanning friendship. It also led to the recording of his first album He Who Laughs Last with Sixtoo.
“We did a 10-song LP fueled by Great White wine and Du Maurier cigarettes. […] I would take a bus from Halifax to Truro [to] work on my first album. We were at Sixtoo’s mother’s house, huddled up in a bedroom with a mic plugged into a 4-track, pressing play and stop. That’s the first time I hung out with DJ Moves as well.
“I remember thinking that Truro wasn’t my favorite place in the world when I first started going there. Dark and desolate, I thought,” laughs Tachichi.
“I started liking Truro enough after a while, but there was not really much to do while I was 17, going on 18. Wanting to get drunk and cause a little ruckus because of that youthful energy, I suppose. But it was cool recording there.”
Tachichi explains that, when it came time to get the tapes made for the release, one of the A-Dat masters was distorted and didn’t work any longer.
“We couldn’t release with the quality we wanted to. Pretty shitty, but what are you gonna do though? We had so many people around my camp that had taped copies that we just left it be. Plus, I was working at a song-a-day type speed after that, so I didn’t sweat it.”
And that was that. The few tapes that existed stayed humbly unreleased and He Who Laughs Last was shelved as a failed experiment – staying that way for over two decades. Until it didn’t.
“I figured ‘why not’ at this point,” says Tachichi about his decision to release He Who Laughs Last now. “I think for the longest time I forgot it existed. I’m always moving forward to the next project.”
The album itself has Tachichi drawing influences from big name rappers of the ’90 : A Tribe Called Quest, Black Thought from the Roots, Mad Skilllz, Big L, Red Man, Method Man, Company Flow, and Nova Scotia’s own Buck 65. Released in its current form, the album has gained the patina of nostalgia and practically glows with a warm authenticity.
“Its a dusty sounding, truly underground, album at a time when we were just cutting our teeth,” says Tachichi. “Still, there’s that sample-filled boom bap and Golden Era feel that I hope people can appreciate.”
“I really loved it all. It was a great learning process and I made multiple friends while doing. I’m still cool with Sixtoo 22 years later and me and Moves have been like family since then and still now. To create a good album you have to work with pros and to put things out independently there’s always a learning curve.
“I truly have no regrets.”