Whatever you do, don’t ever make the mistake of labeling Kardinal Offishall’s brand of Hip Hop “eclectic.”

“Usually when you think eclectic you think that weird shit, people just trying some different shit to have an album left of what’s going on,” the Toronto emcee (by way of Jamaica) said to HipHopDX during a recent interview.

But doing shit different is exactly what has led Kardi to become the most well-known Canadian emcee by U.S. Hip Hop fans. Spending well over the past decade perfecting a blend of Soul, Dancehall, and Reggae music, Kardi has created his own distinctly unique Hip Hop sound that seems to have been embraced by most statesiders.

Unfortunately, Soundscan has yet to reflect the inroads Kardi has been able to make in the States. While critically acclaimed, his international debut, 2001’s Quest For Fire: Firestarter Vol. 1 [click to read], failed to replicate the same success stateside that it enjoyed in our neighbor to the north. And although its planned follow-up, Firestarter Vol. 2: F Word Theory, should have been his commercial breakthrough, Kardi’s re-up release would never meet U.S. or Canadian Hip Hop fans ears once his then label home, MCA Records, was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003, just as his big budget sophomore effort for the label was set to drop.

Even without a U.S. label home, Kardinal continued to make noise up north releasing Fire And Glory in 2005 via the Canadian arm of Virgin/EMI Records. His never-ceasing hustle caught the eyes of some Hip Hop heavyweights, which in short order led to Kardi landing his second stateside deal, this time with Akon’s Konvict Muzik.

Since officially signing on the dotted line with ‘Kon in March of ’07, Kardi has set to work preparing for what he hopes will be his true breakthrough in the States, Not 4 Sale. The Wire-inspired video for his tough as nails street single “Graveyard Shift” [click to view], has been followed recently by his first official single, “Dangerous” [click to view], signaling that as much as he may deride the eclectic label, Kardi is once again going to display his diversity of styles and sounds on his latest effort. With cameos ranging from The Clipse (“Set It Off”), to punk-funk band J*Davey (“Digital Motown,” produced by Jake One), to English songbird Estelle from his Black Jays crew (“Do Me A Favor,” produced by Akon), Kardi should finally see commercial success in the States for his signature brand of original Hip Hop.

Before he likely nets that plaque later this summer, Kardinal spoke with DX about everything from the revelation in April that his new label boss, Akon, might not be the konvict he’s claimed to be [click to read], to why he passed on signing with Jay-Z, to maybe most importantly why statesiders need to “have your wits about you when you come up to T Dot.”

HipHopDX: Let’s start off by having you break it down for the people who don’t know how you ended up on Akon’s label.
Kardinal Offishall: [I] had signed with MCA back in 2000, and we parted ways once they folded [in] and turned into Geffen. [Following that I] was making a lot of noise internationally. And around 2005 [I] was definitely getting a lot of interest from a few labels, one of them being Akon’s. He was saying that he was gonna start this whole Konvict Muzik label. That’s around the time that he just started getting T-Pain poppin’ off. And he had just done [Young Jeezy’s] “Soul Survivor,” so he was poppin’ with that. The way that we spoke, we spoke as men and we were able to talk about the respect that we had for one another’s careers, and the work ethic that we [each] have. And really and truly, I just prayed about it and it just seemed like that was the best way to go because he was somebody that respected me as an artist [and] respected [career] decisions that I had made. And he liked where I was going. He saw the vision. So that’s how that all went down.

DX: Did he respect that you turned down an offer from Jay-Z before you signed with him?
KO: I mean, the thing about [that] is it really wasn’t all as crazy as it sounded. It was a real dope time for me, and I was honored at the time that somebody like Jay-Z [click to read] would even consider [signing] me. I remember he came up here for Rock The Caribana in 2005 and he was putting on a show. That’s when he had just signed Rihanna and… He had a few different people that was poppin’ at the time and he came up to Toronto, and I was his special guest at the show. I remember we rocked a big ass crowd of thousands of people… Jay was definitely cool, but at the end of the day, it’s not to say that I formally turned down the offer [to sign with Roc La Familia], it’s just that it just felt better for my career to go in the direction that ‘Kon was going in. Continued on page 2 »