at 18:52 on October 12, 2006, EST.
By CASSANDRA SZKLARSKI


K-os is photographed in Toronto Thursday. (CP/Aaron Harris)
TORONTO (CP) - Public scrutiny and grand expectations have made Canada's hip-hop guru k-os a little uneasy.

But with his expansive third album "Atlantis: Hymns for Disco" on the verge of worldwide release Tuesday, a degree of paranoia might be expected. While musing on the state of hip hop, k-os said Thursday he can't help but second-guess his finest work, an impressive collection of genre mash-ups that defies definition.

"I'm trying to embrace it," k-os says of the album, a melodic ride that meanders through soul, R&B, rock and, yes, touches on disco.

"I think (as someone) trying to be a perfectionist, as soon as you're finished something you critique it, so I try to hold onto the feeling I had when I first listened to the songs."

Early indications are that the acclaimed Ontario rapper, who also goes by the name Kheaven Brereton, has nothing to worry about. The album is garnering a steady stream of glowing reviews and Virgin Music is unleashing k-os's first-ever global release - betting that his unique stylings will find U.S. and European fans.

While k-os describes his previous album, the Juno-award-winning "Joyful Rebellion," as a rant against the state of hip hop, this time around he says he just didn't care what was out there and decided to make an album that spoke to his myriad of influences. Alternating between Canada's two coasts, he escaped to Halifax and holed up in the woods of Sooke, B.C., on Vancouver Island to hash out melodies and beats.

"I really wanted the music to be something different and be challenged to do my vocals based on the music being a bit weird or outside of the realm of what I did last time," he says over a late breakfast of beer and an omelette.

"If you really, really listen you can hear the feel and the sound of the ocean and different things on different songs."

What resulted was a free-flowing album accompanied by confessional liner notes - insecurity over his lyrics and fear of rejection seem to be a common theme, with the soulful track "Rain" putting his anguish to song. K-os says many uncertainties sprang partly from what seem to be strict notions of what constitutes rap and hip-hop music.

"You as an artist start feeling, if I don't fit into this, placed on the shelf, if I don't look like these other Barbie dolls, people will think I'm weird or different and may not like me," says k-os, whose diverse palette may be traced to a childhood in the suburbs of Toronto, raised by Jehovah's Witness parents from Trinidad.

"I feel sometimes with hip-hop music people aren't allowed to be individuals and share that genre of music through different ways."

Frustration seemed to get the best of k-os recently when he lashed out at one Toronto reviewer for a lukewarm review of the new disc. Insisting he has no problem with unfavourable reviews, k-os says he posted an angry rant on his MySpace web page because the review was more personal than professional. He took the rant down after receiving unsolicited advice from a fan and says he has since made peace with the reviewer.

K-os says he benefits from high-profile mentors like Public Enemy's Chuck D and Fugee siren Lauryn Hill, occasionally e-mailing the trailblazing pair when consumed by self-doubt.

"It's kind of like a Batman thing - I don't call him unless I really want to ask him something," he says of his relationship with Chuck D.

In making "Atlantis," k-os enlists plenty of homegrown pals to fill out the rich sound - Sebastien Grainger, of the defunct rock band Death From Above 1979, rounds out the galloping rhythms on "Sunday Morning," while Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene and college favourite Sam Roberts bring up the rear in "Valhalla." Halifax's renegade rapper Buck 65 guests on the closer, "Ballad of Noah."

And despite all the doubt, K-os admits he's a happy guy - even coyly admitting to a crush on a certain girl - and feels his hard work has finally achieved a measure of success.

"I was so struggling and fighting to get my music out for so long that sometimes I have to realize, wait a second, I'm on my third record, people sort of like this stuff, I'm having fun, what is there to complain about?" he says.

"I think I've fought enough to get to the point where I have a platform to speak, have fun to perform and be an artist for my living, and that's a good thing. There's nothing wrong with that as long as I stay true to myself and tell the truth."


©The Canadian Press, 2006

I am so unbelievably excited for this!

He's playing at my nightclub on the 24th of Oct.