Kardinal Offishall

Long before Rasta-flavoured red, green and gold wristbands became a principal fashion accessory, Toronto's most celebrated emcee Kardinal Offishall has been incorporating authentic Jamaican vibes into his sonic mix to create his own unique rap-dancehall hybrid sound since the mid-90's.

Canada's most renowned pure rap export, Kardinal Offishall has built a portfolio of international production and recording credits comprised of a virtual Who's Who of urban music talent. Before multi-platinum reggae crooner Sean Paul became the toast of the pop charts, Toronto's Offishall rap ambassador was already penning gold-selling Juno Award winning singles with him ("Money Jane"). To date, Kardinal is the only Canadian urban act to appear on BET's Rap City show (even freestyling in the booth with Big Tigger), and on MTV's Advance Warning (which introduces the world to artists on the verge of breaking big, like former guest Kanye West). When you couple that with recent collaboration work alongside the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams ("Grinding" remix, "Bellydancer"), on recent records by Pete Rock ("We Good"), Method Man ("Baby Come On"), Akon ("Kill The Dance") and on the blockbuster movie soundtrack 2 Fast 2 Furious with Disturbing The Peace's Shawnna ("Block Reincarnated"), it's really not open to debate-Kardinal is "the people's champ like Lennox Lewis", as he raps on the title track.

Kardinal captivated the urban music landscape with his much feted 2001 record "Firestarter Volume 1: Quest For Fire" that he licensed to MCA (comprised of older material) who's sole aim was to introduce the world to this new artist. It ended up doing that twenty-fold, spawning video's (the soundclash-styled 'Ol Time Killin') that received good rotation on BET and high rotation on Much Music, and hits like 'Bakardi Slang' that became a way for him to articulate a voice of his generation. On it he rapped "Yo, we don't say 'you know what I'm sayin'/ T dot says 'ya dun know'", aiming to export Toronto-speak to the world, much like Nelly hustled his St. Louis slang 'over thurr.'

Both tracks dominated domestic radio charts, and truly took his brand and sound international, landing him successful unsolicited remix offers from Busta Rhymes and Bounty Killer respectively. Then just as the pop charts, streets, and record biz boardrooms were awaiting his official debut in 2003, MCA folded up shop. Then came Kill Bloodclot Bill-an underground mixtape/response record recorded by Kardinal in response to the wackness that plagued the music biz. In true Kardinal fashion, this release ended up copping top honors from Canada's largest alternative weekly Now Magazine, voted in as the #1 CD on the highly influential 2004 Top Toronto Discs chart beating out bands like Death From Above 1979 and Broken Social Scene.

Despite the flurry of activity and accolades that have followed Kardinal around since the late 90's, for the record, Fire and Glory is his debut release of new music. "Fire and Glory describes what my life's been like for the last few years," explains the multiple Juno Award winning emcee (e.g. Northern Touch) and last year's winner of the UMAC (Urban Music Association of Canada) Reggae Recording of the Year "Empty Barrel" featuring Blessed. "You have to walk through the fire, to get to the glory. Having your ex-label dissolve, and then trying to get a priority release on Geffen/Interscope with Jadakiss and Eminem in the picture means my eyes are wide open now."

Part of what makes Kardinal so, well, official with pop music lovers is that he's honored and adored by scholars, critics, thugs, runway models and everything in between. This breadth is reflected on his Fire and Glory breakthrough. It kicks off with that same strong Yardie undercurrent that has always run through his music (dating back from Beat Factory Rap Essentials' "Naughty Dread"). 'Last Standing Soldier' is a next-level song that takes you into this rarefied place where bass heavy rocksteady reggae successfully merges with hip hop. 'Everybody Gone Gangsta' is a killer track featuring Jamaican dancehall phenom Bounty Killer's protege Vybez Cartel annihilating the digitized backing riddim. While many emcee's avoid honest conversations about life in Canada Kardinal does not, that's actually his calling card, keeping things real. The uber emcee lets listeners know "wha gwaan" (Jamaican patois for "what's going on"), on the street anthem 'Heads Up,' a battle rap-like, wake-up call for emcee's that dishonor the microphone. On the first verse he bold-facedly rhymes: "all the shuckin' and jivin' is over, I'm the chosen soldier...I need paper for the style that I loaned ya... I'm one-of-a-kind like side gills on a Rover/first name J but ain't similar to Hova."

'Everyday Rudebwoy,' an interpolation of Arrested Development's Grammy winning single Everyday People (which was originally recorded by Sly and the Family Stone in 1969) is one of the radio single's that is sure to cement Kardinal's position as a legitimate cross-over Canadian artist. "I've always loved Arrested's version of it," he explains on why he chose that particular song to cover. "I think people will appreciate the unique twist I put on it. I made it sound even more feel good with vocalist Ray Robinson, and then I touch on some real issues that some communities have to deal with, like police harassment, and men taking ownership of their children and relationship scenarios."

This time around, not only has Kardinal put together his own best, big league sonic backdrops (Fire and Glory is largely self-produced, remember, he's a Juno Award winning producer for Choclair's gold selling "Let's Ride"), but he's also compiled some dynamic collaborators, artists he calls friends, to further boost his global chart positioning. 'Mr. Officer' features Renee Neufville (ex of gold-selling American R&B duo Zhane) crooning roots reggae-styled lyrics over a sweet Ro Dolla riddim. It's one of two musicals matches made in heaven on Fire and Glory because, as Kardinal explains: "Renee is Jamaican and she says musically this is the first time she'd ever really gotten an opportunity to express that part of her culture in her music. People understand when Jenny Lopez says she's Puerto Rican, loves her culture and is repping that. Same goes for Fat Joe. I'm just doing the same because the way my family raised me is very influenced by Jamaica. I associate much quicker with ackee and saltfish, than I do with eggs and bacon. I'll take hard dough over white bread any day. It's natural to have my culture reflect in my music. Busta Rhymes is one of the first guys I've heard be proud of his heritage too." Busta Rhymes guests and goes all out on 'Watchalike,' and as many pundits have said, he's the only other emcee in hip hop who matches Kardinal's rawness, intensity and energy.