Knee Deep Records was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

, specializing in hip hop music

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

.

Based in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Knee Deep was originally a home recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

. The label was founded in 1995 by record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Day, and rapper Choclair

Choclair

Kareem Blake, better known by his stage name Choclair, is a Canadian rapper. He helped develop Canadian hip hop in the 1990s, as a member of the Circle.-Career:...

. The label's first 12" single

12-inch single

The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...

—"Father Time" by Saukrates

Saukrates

Karl Amani Wailoo , better known by his stage name Saukrates , is a Canadian rapper, singer, and record producer of Guyanese descent. He is the co-founder of Capitol Hill Music, and lead singer of hip-hop/R&B group Big Black Lincoln...

 b/w "Twenty One Years" by Choclair—is considered an underground hip hop

Underground hip hop

Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....

 classic. In 1996, the label released Kardinal Offishall

Kardinal Offishall

Jason D. Harrow , better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall , is a Canadian rapper and record producer. He is often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", and is best known for his distinctive reggae and dancehall-influenced style of hip-hop.-Life and career:Harrow was born in...

's first single, "Naughty Dread

Naughty Dread

"Naughty Dread" is a hip-hop song by Kardinal Offishall. Its his debut single, released in 1996 on Knee Deep Records, before being featured on the Rap Essentials Volume One compilation album. The song contains a sample of "Natty Dread" by Bob Marley & The Wailers.-Background:Kardinal wrote the song...

", which received a Juno Award

Juno Award

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

 nomination for Best Rap Recording

Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year

The Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year has been awarded since 1991, and is awarded for the best rap album in Canada. It was awarded under the title Best Rap Recording from 1993 to 2002....

 in 1997; Choclair won the award for his EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, What It Takes

What It Takes (EP)

What It Takes is an EP by Canadian rapper Choclair, released independently in 1997 on Knee Deep Records. It spawned the 12" single "What It Takes Remix", and a music video of the title track was released in 1996. The EP won the award for Best Rap Recording at the 1997 Juno Awards.-Track listing:All...

. After the label was shut down in the early 2000s, Greenhouse Music was founded by Day and Choclair in 2003.

External links

• Knee Deep Records at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...