SJ the Wordburglar is a
Canadian hip hop artist from
Halifax,
Nova Scotia. His style is best described as energetic and zany with an emphasis on wordplay and humour. He primarily works with his crews
Backburner and
Props Dept for all aspects of his music creation, including production, cuts, mixing, mastering and guest vocals. He is currently working on his third full length album.
Biography
Although using the name Dandruff once or twice, SJ the Wordburglar began his rap career as a member of
The Dregs of Society using the name SJ. Their biggest hit was a song called "Stuart" about one of their friends. It appears as a bonus cut on Wordburglar's self-titled debut. After the Dregs broke up, Wordburglar started a solo career as SJ, adopting the additional "the Wordburglar" upon teaming up with
Beatmason for his first major single, "Wordburglar." The song was central to his self-released debut (
Backburner) and was also included on the compilation
Bassments of Badmen: Volume 2 (
Hand'Solo Records) later that year. The song was also made into an animated video, which is featured on
Jasmatuph's
Preserving Efforts DVD video collection, and has been remixed by a number of different producers. Signing to
Hand'Solo Records, Wordburglar followed his debut CD with a vinyl EP that collected songs from that album and his at-that-time upcoming
Burglaritis with a few exclusives in
2005 and Burglaritis in
2006. Both the vinyl EP and Burglaritis feature the song "Breeze," a duet with
Quannum Projects member
Pigeon John.
Wordburglar is building a reputation for a hype live show.
Critical Acclaim
With
Burglaritis, Wordburglar was nominated for
Canadian Music Week's
Indie Awards in the category of Favourite Urban Artist/Group or Duo, as well as winning the fan-voted award for Best Lyrics from
CBC Radio 3 for his song "Word Owner."
Burglaritis was also the third most played hip hop album on Canadian college radio in
2006 according to
Earshot's year end chart summary. In 2007 he was selected as one of Urb Magazine's Next 1000 for their online content, and in 2008 he has been selected by them once again for their Next 100 in the print edition of the magazine. Wordburglar is currently working on his third album, tentatively titled 3rdburglar.
Affiliations
Wordburglar is also a member of the Canada-wide crew
Backburner, which also includes producers
Fresh Kils,
Beatmason (his primary producer),
Dexter Doolittle,
Uncle Fester and
Timbuktu, and emcees
Jesse Dangerously,
Ginzu 333,
Thesis,
Selfhelp,
Johnny Hardcore,
Jay Bizzy,
Rez Villain,
More or Les and
Toolshed.
He is also the founding member of The Props Dept.
Work Outside of Hip Hop
Wordburglar also dabbles in stand-up and sketch comedy as well as acting under his real name of Sean Jordan. While he works solo as a stand up comedian, he's also a founding member of
The Friend & The Jerk sketch comedy duo, and a member of the sketch troupe
I Hope It's Potatoes. As an actor, he has appeared on stage as Pumpkin in the
Toronto run of
Purple Octogon Theatre's Pulp Fiction - Live!! and has appeared in a number of short films and commercials. Sean Jordan is also behind
YouTube character
Grandpa Funnybook, a spoof of
Marvel Comics creative genius
Stan Lee.
Discography
Albums
External links