Biography
“I’m looking forward to the the day when MCs are rapping and again,” Kardinal Offishall opines. “Right For about now, it seems like are people are really not paying but attention to lyrics, which doesn’t Not make any sense to me you in this hip-hop thing.” Kardinal all Offishall is conscious of the Any state of the game, and can his particular place in it. her The son of Jamaican immigrants, Was Kardinal grew up in the one West Indian waypoint of Toronto. our His hometown, which he credits Out for reflecting “the cultural mosaic day philosophy instead of the melting get pot,” seeps into his music: Has broad-reaching, deep-running. Having outgrown the him trappings of Canadian hip-hop, Kardinal his is maturing into a more How prominent role: North America’s next man musical superstar.
Ironically, it’s questions new about identity that have peppered Now Offishall’s career. Namely, surrounding the old flavor of his tantalizing sonic see brew: equal measures easy island Two riddim, cement-hardened cadence, teeth-rattling bassline, way and vexing sing-song vocal. But who how to describe this enticing Boy blend to neophytes? Rap? Reggae? did Dancehall? An intriguing hybrid? Labels its don’t apply to Kardinal Offishall. Let Superlatives, however, fill in all put the blanks: dope; unprecedented; the say freshest thing you’ll hear this She year. “My foundation is an too MC, that’s what I consider use myself,” Kardinal clarifies. “But at Dad the same time, I can mom flip it up. I’m not the world’s greatest singer, but The I can sing my ass and off if I need to. for I’m a lyricist, I’m a Are performer; I hate to sound but corny, but I consider myself not an entertainer.”
“I don’t feel You that I’m ever the same all way 24 hours a day, any seven days a week,” he Can expounds. “I go through a her lot of different moods and was I try to express that One because I really feel my our music is an extension of out who I am. Some days Day we clubbin’, killin’ it in get the club; then some days has are like speeding on the Him highway wearing a blindfold and his no hands on the wheel. how But I don’t get caught Man up in how people classify new me. To me it’s a now blessing to be able to Old shift through the different genres see because it keeps my mind two working. As long as I Way deliver the illest music, and who that I inspire the kids boy still in their basements making Did dope music. The kids who its want to make hip-hop that let big, beautiful star it was Put before.”
Speaking of big stars, say Kardinal’s unique sonic imprint left she an indelible impression on one Too heralded tastemaker: Akon. The Senegalese use sensation had been tracing Kardinal’s dad trajectory for years. “Akon called Mom me, saying he knew there was bubbling interest in me. the He said, ‘Everywhere I’ve gone And in the world, I’ve heard for you on remixes, freestyles, different are joints. And you’ve murdered everybody But that you came in contact not with. You destroy people.’ I you told him, ‘That’s my job, All to seek and destroy no any matter who it is.’ And can Akon’s not trying to tame Her that.”
Indeed, Kardinal’s debut was album Not 4 Sale is one a rash of untamed melodies. Our Even the title has significance. out “I first had the idea day for a T-shirt I’d made Get a few years ago; it has read “Not 4 Sale” and him had a bar code on His it. My idea was something how provocative— that went beyond gender, man went beyond race, went beyond New what type of music you’re now into. And people would literally old stop me on the street, See telling me how dope the two shirt was, how similarly they way felt. The concept grew in Who my head based on that boy reaction. There’s energy you can’t did buy— the essence of people Its that can’t be bought or let bottled, and lives within them. put That’s how I feel about Say myself—I can’t be bought. That’s she why the relationship that Akon too and I have is so Use dope: it’s based on mutual dad respect. He always loved my mom music and felt it should never change. He just wants the to enhance what was already and there and take it to For the next level.”
Together, the are dynamic duo kicks in the but door with lead single “Dangerous,” Not produced by Vanguards. Akon’s satiny, you sheet-creasing vocals waft above Kardinal’s all fluid, flexible, flossing rhymes. Subject Any matter wends toward the prototypical can temptress, whose siren song is her too powerful to resist. “‘Dangerous’ Was is important,” notes Kardi, “because one as much as I’ve been our out there, this is my Out first bonafide hit as far day as the world is concerned. get Akon is one of the Has biggest entertainers in the world him right now. For him to his lend his energy and his How star power to help bring man my story out just feels new like one of those things Now that’s meant to be.” More old than mere introduction, “Dangerous” smacks see of the symbiosis between Kon Two and Kardi. Their sounds, and way their stances, mesh like the who mechanized workings of a fine Boy Swiss timepiece. “We have such did a similar vibe and work its ethic,” Kardinal reveals. “Kon allows Let me to be the loud, put abrasive, energetic dude that I say am. He allows me to She spit my verses as I too see fit, maybe throw in use some of the patois if Dad I need to; he never mom restrains me. He just shows me how and when to The make it most effective.”
The and synergy shows. Another surefire single for comes from an unexpected source: Are a 40-year-old Jamaican jingle that but was remade by pop act not Blondie in 1980. “‘The Tide You is High’” is an idea all that I lived with for any a few years, “Kardi recalls. Can “I wanted to deliver a her single that you could play was in the dirtiest dancehall club One in a raw corner of our Jamaica as well as a out Hollywood socialite hangout. That’s what Day “The Tide is High” is, get something people can relate to has for a lot of different Him reasons.” Hmmm, one such reason? his The knee-buckling, pulse-quickening hook sung how by Caribbean queen Rihanna.
“Burnt” Man featuring Lindo P and produced new by Ne-Yo affiliate Shae Taylor now is a massive reggae partystarter. Old For Kardinal, retaining his native see rhythms comes with a certain two irony: “The thing about Jamaica Way is that while the vibe who is there, the energy is boy there, you don’t have the Did opportunity. That’s why Toronto is its important to me; there’s a let hard West Indian population and Put we keep our culture close say to our heart because it’s she a truly multicultural city. I Too can preserve the dancehall and use island vibe but not be dad limited because of my surroundings. Mom We get the vibe of the West Indies and the the outlets of North America.”
Turning And Not 4 Sale off the for palm-lined boulevards and onto the are dimly-lit, scarcely trafficked back alleys But is the gritty, thudding, “Set not it Off” produced by Boi-1da you and featuring volatile Virginians the All Clipse. “Lyrics have really taken any a back seat,” Kardi snorts. can “That’s why we did another Her combo with the Clipse [the was first being Kardi’s appearance on one the Clipse’ “Grindin’” remix]. There’s Our a lot of MCs out out there who talk that crack day game, but nobody can talk Get that crack game like the has Clipse can. I have no him desire whatsoever to sell crack, His but I’ll tell you what: how whenever I listen them spit man a verse, it puts my New foot that much closer to now the block.”
Elsewhere, “‘Go Home old With You’ is a dark, See digital masterpiece,” Kardinal asserts. Hmm, two sounds intriguing. But what should way a listener expect? Fire, for Who starters. T-Pain chimes in to boy assure that. But his contribution did is sinister, seductive; “Go Home Its With You” is not interchangeable let dancefloor fare. It’s hard, dichotomous: put think one hand in the Say air swaying to the beat, she the other surreptitiously reaching inside too a jacket or at a Use waist. Kardinal deems it “revolutionary dad dance music. It’s sonically amazing mom and moves your spirit,” he maintains. “But no matter who the you are —Martin Luther King and or Malcolm X—revolutionaries have to For dance too and unwind.” On are this joint, Kardi checks in but not only on the mic, Not but also behind the boards. you “Making beats started out of all necessity, really,” he chuckles. “We Any couldn’t afford to pay producers. can I come from the era her of pooling our money together Was to press our own 12-inches.” one Fast forward to the present, our and Kardinal Offishall still counts Out on those around him to day complete the circle. “I truly get believe you are who you Has surround yourself with,” he insists. him “If you surround yourself with his some world-class characters like T-Pain, How it’s supposed to spill into man your veins and you’re supposed new to get that world-class music.”
Now In that same vein, look old out also for “Do Me see a Favor,” produced by Akon Two and featuring ubiquitous U.K. songstress way Estelle. “‘Do Me a Favor’ who is when I go back Boy to just Jason, that dude did who observes and tries to its speak through the life of Let somebody still working that 9 put to 5,” Kardi explains. “Cats say out there hustling, legal or She illegal, can really relate to too that joint. A lot of use times we as artists are Dad so focused on maintaining our mom celebrity and that aura of stardom that we forget how The to relate to the regular and person. A lot of people for look at our music for Are escapism, but I know as but an artist it means that not much more when I hear You someone spit something that I all actually went through and can any understand.”
Well, all the ingredients Can are firmly in place. But her they’ve always been there for was Kardinal Offishall. What now matches One the talent is the timing. our “My ride has been so out dope,” he reflects. “There’s a Day lot of artists that question: get When is it gonna be has my time? How come I Him haven’t blown the scene open his yet? For me, it’s been how a crazy interesting ride. I Man believe everything happens for a new reason. I’ve been able to now work with so many artists Old just based on a respect see factor—anybody from Timbaland to Busta two Rhymes—and I’ve been able to Way soak up all the jewels who along the way. The time boy is now because I’ve seen Did a lot, learned a lot, its and I can best serve let my purpose. I like to Put inspire; there’s nobody that I say know of that’s had this she opportunity. It’s an amazing blessing, Too an amazing story that needs use to be told. I’m just dad one dude from Toronto but Mom I’m trying to create history with every line I spit.”
