'Retrospected': Classified reimagining songs from his past for new acoustic hip hop album

It's been 15 years since Classified released the original version of ‘All About You’ featuring Chad Hatcher.

"That was the first song when I realized music can be powerful, it touches people," says Classified.

Which is why he wanted it to be the first single from his forthcoming acoustic hip hop album.

"It wasn’t a big hit like 'Inner Ninja' or 'Oh…Canada' or 'Good News', but it was something that hit peoples souls so I wanted to make that the first one," he says.

The new version features two Cape Bretoners; Breagh Isobel, an award winning singer songwriter, and up and comer, Brett Matthews.

"He's all over this acoustic album cause I'm a huge fan of the way he plays guitar and he has a really unique voice," says classified.

The full acoustic album titled, 'Retrospected,' is set to be released this spring.

"Just throwing back, like retrospective, and there's a respect part of it too I think with just the work put in over the years I like to make up words to put them together and you get 'retrospected'," he says.

Classified says he doesn't know of anyone else in Canada who is making an acoustic hip hop album.

The record will feature 14 of Classified's most notable singles, hoping they will touch people in a new way.

"That was the thing me and my manager talked about I feel like people who might not listen to hip hop would pick this up listen and go cool I didn’t know there was this type of stories in hip hop or this type of topics and I think they can digest it a different way," he says.

The remaining track list and featured artists are still 'classified information', but the rapper promises the lineup is stacked.

"It was cool, a lot of these people were people, that some of them I grew up as a kid hearing them and the fact that they were open to doing it and killing it and created in this room it was definitely magical," says Classified.