jeff ‘spade’ duke
is a b-boy (a dancer for Michie Mee), graffiti writer (Crazy Roc of the Graffiti Knights), emcee (Spade of the Canadian Hip Hop duo Citizen Kane), and independent record label owner (Treehouse Records). Raised in Scarborough, Toronto, together with Rob "Blye" Paris, Jeff released his debut single, "Soul Survivor" in 1995, his debut album The Epic in 1997, and then his sophmore album Deliverance in 1999 - a release that was considered to be one of the best Canadian Hip Hop offerings of the ‘90’s. Citizen Kane’s efforts to promote Deliverance, in the face of Canadian hip hop's struggle to gain commercial and critical attention in that era, was filmed by Duke's sister — Alison Duke — for the National Film Board of Canada’s documentary Raisin' Kane: A Rapumentary (released in 2001). The duo was also nominated for a Juno Award — first in 1999 for Rap Recording of the Year for their EP The Epic, and then again in 2000 for their album Deliverance. In May 2020, Citizen Kane teamed up with TopLeft Recordings to put out the Scartown Unreleased ClassIcs mixtape - a collection of past recordings from 2001 to 2005 that were never released - which was mixed by DJ Law and mastered by Quarter Inch Kings.