Kardinal Offishall may have a future as a music executive, as he caught on to fellow Toronto emcee Drake’s star power before anyone else did.
Specifically, Kardi revealed to MTV News that he recommended to Akon that he sign Drizzy.
“The biggest one that he passed on, I told him about Drake early,” he said of Akon, who has signed artists such as T-Pain and Lady Gaga. “I said, ‘Kon, this kid is a T.V. star… and this kid is crazy.'”
“I had met him years before he started with his first mixtape,” continued Offishall. “The thing that’s dope about Drake is that I remember, like he was just hungry because he wanted to make that transition from the acting to the rapping.”
“After he blew [with So Far Gone], I went back and said, ‘See Kon, I told you,'” said Kardinal. “But it’s one of those things that worked out beautifully for Drake with YMCMB. He’s got a good camp.”
Watch the interview below:
RELATED: Drake Talks Kardinal Offishall And Grammy Nominations
lil wayne was paid to co-sign dude. he was already signed to Atlantic before “so far gone”. that whole thing was a hoax.
^^^FACT!! ITS ALL MARKETING AND PERCEPTION
THE LAST REAL ORGANIC RAP GROUP IS G-UNIT WITH BANKS YAYO AND FIF KNOWING EACHOTHER FROM THE BLOCK
wow! soooooo wrong, 1 example… D12.
REAL TALK MY NIGGA…ATLANTIC IS PART OF UNIVERSAL ANYWAY, SO IT WAS ALL IN THE FAM. THESE NIGGAZ GETTING RAPED BY THESE MAJORS.
getting raped and still having countless of millions. fuck outta here.
Dumbass he said last group. D12 got mainstream exposure way before G Unit. Salute was right.
Drake had a situation like Pill/MMG or Game/G-Unit going on. But luckily for him it actually worked out.
Who gives a shit?
No, really — I’m genuinely curious why this is even remotely important. It’s obviously just baseless gossip, but a lot of you appear to feel strongly about it. Why?
@Black Atlantic is not under Universal, its under Warner
“baseless gossip” or inside information? My name says “Anonymous” for a reason. But it’s not a secret in the industry.
Its still a good hustle by Drake. He spent a lot of his own money for radio, consulting fees with industry leaders, and his “So Far Gone” album.
But it’s not gossip. I mean even if you’re not in the industry, all of the subtle hints are there.
-He actually said, on record, “I blew my self up. I’m on some martyr ish”.
-Trey Songz is featured on his “mixtape” before he was signed. how? “Succeful”
-Who serviced “Best I ever had” to radio? 50 cent even said, and I quote, “SOMEONE is working that record. You don’t just get a record added to hundreds of stations because people like it.”
-At the end of “Best I Ever Had” Drake actually says, “Young Money”. This was waaaaaaay before he was supposed to be affiliated and during the time when he was supposed to be “deciding”.
– Oh yeah, you hear Trey Songz on that song too “Yup”.
I mean it’s no big deal. The industry is all about perception and deception. Thats why you get the lying about age, the truth coming out about Warner asking Ross to let Pill pal around with him like he is MMG, or like this Iggy chick being signed to Interscope but it looks like it was just a single deal, if at all.
It’s very little truth in the stuff that is “press released”.
All these labels are under Vivendi
so what know nikkahs!
DRAKE WOULD NEVER BEEN AS BIG IF HE SIGNED WITH AKON.
PLUS GAGA WASNT SIGNED BY AKON…THEY JUST WASNT SURE IF SHE WAS GONNA POP SO THEY THREW HER UNDER AKON AND WHEN SHE POPPED THEY SAID FUCK THAT NIGGA AINT GONNA GET PAID OFF THESE BILLIONS
true story
It wouldn’t have worked out. Drake is only popular right now because Wayne is popular right now. If he was with Akon he would have been dropped. I doubt it’s a loss to Akon anyway, because Lady Gaga is signed to him. He doesn’t need Drake.
Lady Gaga = 10x Drakes in terms of money
No Lieeeeeeee, No Lieeeeeeee, No Lieeeeee,E,iiiiiiiiiiiiii,E,i
^^^ hahaha
^^ hahaha
^^ hilarious
hilarious
No doubt, but I’d say in terms of money and Record sales, cuz she has outsold him and that whole bitch ass label on her own. In other words, I don’t think Akon gives a fuck about that wack muthafucka..
Kardi=GOat of canada
Shad >>>>>>>>>>>.
GOAT LOL Canada hip hop is irrelevant it only has a few mc’s anybody can be the GOAT
drake is a big fat bitch
The title should be “Irrelevant Nigga Recalls Telling Another Irrelevant Nigga To Sign DraKKKe”
bitchy
bitchy
HEEELL Y EEEZZZ NIKKKAS
FINALLY IT HAPPENED – JUST BOUGHT A NEW RIDE – A CAM A RO CONVERTIBLE.GOT APPROVED FOR 26 LARGE. BEEN 5 YRS SINCE IVE GOTTEN SHYT APPROVED, BUT NOW ALL MY CRE-DIT SHEET GONE. ALL OF IT.
IF YOU STRUGGLING WITH THAT CRE-DIT HISTORY ISHH, GET RID OF ALL DAT TODAY – CALL THESE PEEPS AT 8^8^8-9-2-7 -3-3-5-6. . THEY DO AMAZING WORK AND THEY ARE CHEAP AS FUQQ. GOT RID OF ALL MY SHYYT IN NO TIME.
MY HOMEBOY WAS IN THE GUTTA TOO, AND HE CLEANER THAN ME NOW-gettin a condo!!
Hit em up – THEY WILL HELP U!!
Signing with Akon would have been a huge embarassment.