Kardinal Offishall: Dirty Dirty North

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Kardinal Offishall is from Canada. He makes hip hop. He is so good I want to scream. "Bacardi Slang" and "U R Ghetto" sound like Organized Noise producing a condescension-free KRS-1 wit wicked jokes. Has anyone else heard his full album? Is it as good as the singles?

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I heard him from time to time when I lived in Toronto, and he clearly got skillz. Check out the Rascalz posse cut "Northern Touch" if you haven't heard it, it's a touchstone for all the Canadians I've met here in the US and a great song to boot.

― Dave M., Friday, 15 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Okay, I've got the (most of) the album... it's fantastic. No real review since I haven't minidisced the whole thing off Jamila yet. all tracks sound different (varied is O.K!). Scattered sonics likely consequence of its debut-ness, a result of cobbling it together from diff. studio sessions over the last year or two. There's a strong dancehall and dub influence in some songs, but kneaded in with metal guitars, big piano samples, big soul choruses, political lyrics, hilarious hectoring. "Powerfull" and the aforementioned Bacardi Slang are the standouts on first listen. Great stuff, lots to sort out. But absolutely full-on recommend.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 18 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The album is "Firestarter: Vol. 1". And his name's pronounced: "kar-di-NAL oh-fish-AL" (sayeth Giant Step).

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 18 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My god you guys, if you like hip hop at all please please please figure out a way to get this record. It's AWESOME. Lots of press here if that kind of thing will convince you. No filler. I am finding that the crit. language to describe it is failing me, besides resorting to "like X meets Y" and such stuff. I guess point is that it's not a pale version of X or Y, or even a better one, but somewhere around, mm, A or C - whole diff'rent region of the alphabet, but an integral part of the chain just the same. Strong links to Outkast's instrumentation. Kardinal uses strategies from rap's past - disco, funk, german synths, dancehall - without winking or embarrassment. All samples, music, etc. very up front in the mix - no murky Rza-style beats, but very clearly articulated samples and progressions. Beyond this it's hard for me to say anything categoric about "the album" because it's so varied (yet not "all over the place" a la Aquemini or Stankonia; there's a fabulous consistency of feel/vision/impact).

― Still Tracer Hand, Monday, 18 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kardinal uses THAT riddim, the one from Sinster Nancy's Bam Bam on "Maxine" - he says "Diamond, and gold, and platinum nex' to she / Look like a big ol' rusty tin of bully beef"

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 18 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three months pass...

Geez, sorry it took me a whole summer to respond, Tracer. Anyways, I think Kardinal's the brightest hiphop talent in Canada right now, and I've been pushing him and his Firestarter album on everyone all year. There's that whole cred issue with the T-dot scene--well, eastcoast canuck hiphop in general--where everyone's immediately suspected of aping NYC style or goshdarnit just not being hahhhhrd enough. K.O. skirts all that BO-shit with this totally infectious Jamaican accent-drenched delivery that pinballs all over the damn place with this wild, almost giddy boyish glee, free of all thug affectation (but not pussywhipped undie style, mind; he's cocky but charmingly so). His lyrics are better: personally directed, downright FUN, witty as all fuck, somehow capturing the black-man-in- canada experience w/out being whiny or bitter--he LOVES it here. And the whole Jamaican/W. Indies POV lends him more cross-cultural meta- whateva material than he knows what to do with (see the middle verses of Bacardi Slang, that's my shit right there). Still, bafflingly, this guy gets ignored while those Swollen Members idiots get a huge US push. Well his early stuff had sketchy as shit production so maybe that's why; avoid it. Anyhoo, Tracer described the sonics of the new stuff better than I ever could so just check out the singles "Husslin'" and "Money Jane" if you wanna know what a canadian summer REALLY sounds like ie not the sound of acne + moss growing across Efrim Godspeed's perpetually unwashed nuttz. Yeah. Goodbye.

― Darren K., Monday, 24 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

Thanks, Tracer. I am really enjoying it so far.

― Josh, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

:) "makin babies til our army's on top"

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can only add to the chorus of approval. Offishall is excellent, his album is tops, especially the tracks "Bakardi Slang" and "M.I.C Thugs."

― Jack Redelfs, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And the most straightforward reggae-toasting (?) one, that's grate.

― Josh, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You know I just realized the other day that I can count the number of swears on this record on one hand. And you don't even notice! He's still a hard, cocky motherfucker! MCs take note!

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 12 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He's good, I like his style a lot, but he lacks a certain appeal on his album... I'd be happier with him if I had not gotten the record, and stuck to the singles. It's still solid, but I was expecting a bit more... MIC Thugs, Naughty Dread and Bakardi Slang are his strongest points, I'd say. The record doesn't quite live up to those tracks, at least for me.

― Bobby D. Gray, Saturday, 13 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks for your constant preaching, Tracer. This stuff is great. Current loves = "Old Time Killin" and "Money Jane".

― Tim, Saturday, 13 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i love how unexpected the chorus of Money Jane is the first time you hear it.

but Ol Time Killin (especially the fantastic chorus) is GRATE and i think my favorite (neck and neck with "Powerfull"). the little "beeeeooooowww BOOM" computer sound at the beginning i figure is onomatopoeic for "this one's the BOMB, baby"

― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 13 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

I know this thread is pretty old but I just found it and had to post cuz I'm from Canada and a huge fan of Kardinal. Ol Time Killin' is probably my fave track off his album. They're all amazing but Mic T.H.U.G.S and Husslin' are also amazing. If u like Kardinal Offishall then u should peep some more of T-dot's hiphop. Ghetto Concept, Solitair, and Baby Blue Soundrew are worth checkin out.

― Steph, Sunday, 20 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

OK... the new album has apparently been out for two weeks??!!

No mention of this fact on Kardinal's official pages on MCA Records.

I am simmering with quiet, white-hot rage tempered with a sense of fantastic anticipation.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 08:27 (nineteen years ago)

Fire and Glory, is that the new album?

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Monday, 5 December 2005 08:34 (nineteen years ago)

Yes.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 08:38 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, what I wrote in 2001 about his major-label debut - Scattered sonics likely consequence of its debut-ness, a result of cobbling it together from diff. studio sessions over the last year or two - will probably go double for this one

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

Fire and Glory's excellent - big fat dancehall beats and digital synth riffs, guest spots from Vybez Kartel and Estelle amongst others, funny funny lyrics. Shit is dope.

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Monday, 5 December 2005 09:23 (nineteen years ago)

that sounds like my Kardi!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

I've had this for like a month! It's really good. I keep singing the hook from "Freshie" (incorrectly, I should mention) and everybody stares at me.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 5 December 2005 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

WHY HAVE YOU ALL BEEN KEEPING THIS FROM ME

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

YOU BASTARDS

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 5 December 2005 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

COME TO CANADA, it's ALL-KARDI, ALL THE TIME!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 5 December 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

hilariously rotten album if u ask me!

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Monday, 5 December 2005 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

Haven't heard the new stuff, but "Bakardi Slang" still rocks harder than a very hard-rocking thing.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Monday, 5 December 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

so after delaying kardi's new record for THREE YEARS, this one gets dropped into stores w/no video, no mention on the man's own damn official web site and obviously no PR because all the writers around here who got sent the automatic copies might have written something about it somewhere if it had... i assume that's how you guys have been listening to this for "a month" already, right?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think he has a U.S. record deal right now. He was on the cover of Exclaim last month. http://www.exclaim.ca
The story might have some insight as to why no U.S. promotion.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 5 December 2005 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

I read a few small comments repping the album, and there seem to be T0rrents knocking about that aren't too hard to find. Alls I can say against it at the moment is it feels like it ends abruptly, but I love this weird mix of sounds - there's a crunk feel too, as well as old-school beats and the whole lovers/dancehall/ragga thing.

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Monday, 5 December 2005 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

OK, I didn't realize it was indy.. that is just crazy. Here's the relevant graf from the Exclaim article -- thanks a ton for that link.

Fire & Glory appears on his own Black Jays imprint in a co-venture with Virgin; Kardinal virtually rules out ever signing directly to a major label again. “All these things were really lessons for me, so now I try not to make those mistakes again.”

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

tour dates: http://www.virginmusic.ca/artist_page_tour.asp?section=tour&artist_id=3832

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 5 December 2005 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

On first listen, I absolutely love the direction he's going, much more fluid integration with dancehall, virtually every song has a big lush sung chorus, lots of horns, everything bright and lively. Just lovely!! I was worried that I wouldn't ever hear anything like Miss Money Jane again, but I don't think I need to worry about that

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

except for "Everybody's Gone Gangsta" it's a SUMMER album through and through

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

That's exactly my first impression. "Everyday Rudebwoy" is the kind of song that makes you take a welding torch to your sedan, because you've just gotta play it with the roof down.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

publishing industry friend sez when it was all said and done, kardi made just under $50 net (!) from firestarter v1. in fact, that whole sordid situation is routinely cited among publishing folks as one of the most ridiculous in canadian music history.

new one's on his own label? you don't say..

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Mark!

― Chino (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

g*ddamn this is good

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

YSI something?

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

I really want to hear this.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

I got mine at the import section of Virgin.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 04:04 (nineteen years ago)

Here's a taster

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

big album

― captain easychord (captain easychord), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

I love how just like the first one there's only one version - the clean version!? I always wondered if this would somehow be addressed in the never-released follow-up to Firestarter Vol. 1, which was set to be called "Firestarter Vol 2. - The F-Word Theory"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

Pretty much every song on this is a killer ... title track is fantastic ... there's a supposedly a Tim-produced track that he didn't include on it ... chyeah!!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

"Bellydancer" isn't on this, right?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:56 (nineteen years ago)

No. It's all new except for "Everybody's Gone Gangsta," which was on the "Kill Bloodclott Bill" mixtape

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 23:58 (nineteen years ago)

wha! leave out! you don't know what I'm about.
i used to do the jugglin, pharmaceutical hustlin, now i'm straight
-- one love out the gate --
my mom's got a house --
sister's in school --
my rent stays paid --
my hyundai gets approved

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 9 December 2005 04:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yr enthusiasm for this is infecting, Tracer, curse you!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 9 December 2005 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

Bloor West is loaded down with used copies of this, and it's so gotdamn good. i hate Toronto sometimes. "the city with the most haters per capita" indeed.

― yuengling participle (rotten03), Friday, 9 December 2005 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

i gotta hear this record.

but: the single is WEAK. nobody here likes the single, right?

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

The single's okay, smooth with a total gimme hook, but pretty unrepresentative of the rest of the album's Wagnerian bombast!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 9 December 2005 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

why he didn't release EGG or Heads Up (which got a lot of play on Flow, Real Frequency bumping it weekly for months) is beyond me.

― yuengling participle (rotten03), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

dave, do you hate it? the single? cause i refuse to get excited until someone says the album is great despite that track.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

FUN FACT

kardinal appears as a talking head/commentator on all those muchmoremusic VH-1 ripoff shows!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

that trial by jury or whatever is a fucking abomination. its like having six bad comedians shit directly in your ear.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

i know

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

"this is the show where we say.."

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

"ciara! get off that car, girl!"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

Is the single the track that was posted above, with the modified Sly Stone hook?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

"sure 50 cent, you've gots lots of women in this video. but let's not forget, they're being paid to be there!"

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

"what is she DOING on that car?!"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

"'oh'! more like 'UH oh'"

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago)

(etc etc)

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

oh man, i have to get cable again.

mark the single is OK as a summer jam, but i hear it enough on radio to skip over it when i listen to the album. there are other cuts i'm not totally in love with ("Sunday" and "Freshie") but everything else is great. check the Busta track or "Kaysarasara" if you need more convincing.

― yuengling participle (rotten03), Friday, 9 December 2005 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus Christ. I'm with Tracer on this: I've listened to his first religiously, thought I'd never hear from him again (OK, there was Bellydancer, Kill Bloodclot Bill mixtape), but motherfucker! I'd planned to go meet my wife for a drink, but she'll have to wait a few minutes while I trawl a few NY record stores for this!!!

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 9 December 2005 23:48 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

U.S. Album: NOT FOR SALE coming soon.
Also, Cdn single "Last Standing Soldier" remix/collab with Bedouin Soundclash on the way.
FURTHERMORE: Seeing him next week.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 22 June 2006 14:30 (eighteen years ago)

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