When MCA Records was swallowed up by Interscope last year, a lot of artists were left in the dust.
Luckily for Kardinal Offishall, he was not one of them.
In fact, Kardi has a lot of label support for his next project, and hopes to drop a new single called Tear the Walls Down in June and a full-length album some time in the fall.
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“Everything’s good for me. I can’t complain,” said Kardi during a recent interview, where he was opening for 50 Cent. “There are people who are having a bumpier time (with the MCA situation) than me. So for me, it’s cool.”
While fans have been waiting for some original Kardi material for a long time, this next album is a good bet to remain on schedule because of the confidence the label has in it. “I won’t tell you how much money they’re putting behind it, but let’s put it this way: It’s enough money for them not to drop me,” he said.
Some possible guest appearances on Kardi’s new full length include legendary emcees Busta Rhymes and Pharoah Monch, with production by Timberland, The Neptunes and EPMD’s DJ Scratch.
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Kardi is also scheduled to appear on Method Man’s new album, he said.
While it has been a while since Firestarter, Kardi’s last album, dropped, he has been anything but idle.
He spent a whack of time in Europe last fall doing collaborations with
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British groups like Punjabi Hit Squad and even played a benefit concert put on by a number of fashion houses in October, with a guest list that included none other than Prince Charles, the next in line for the British throne.
“That was crazy because the projected audience was 250 million across the world because it was on TV,” said Kardi.
Kardi also recorded a song with Pete Rock which will appear in the NBA
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Live 2005 video game.
But Kardi was up to more than just music. He also got into a little acting, appearing with Method Man in the movie My Baby’s Daddy, as well as in the independent flick Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, which was named best independent film at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
“Once you get into acting you definitely gotta respect the craft,” he said. So will Kardi abandon his musical career for the big screen? “All that stuff is just fun stuff for me. Music is definitely what I love,” he said. “It’s all about conquering the music game. I feel so close to breaking through now.”
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“For me, success is to be comfortable and have the music respected. I respect the life that 50 Cent and Jay-Z have, but it gets kinda crazy. I just want to do my music so that all my bills are cool and all the people around me are cool,” he said.
And Kardi is confident that he can get it done without having to pick up and move from his hometown- The T-Dot.
“Toronto is where it’s at. Toronto is where the inspiration comes from.
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That’s my home, that’s what I’m about. That’s what I represent right now,” he said.
Kardi has brought Toronto to the world, introducing its slang to people through his songs and showing its streets on his videos. He is considered by many as the city’s unofficial spokesman. “People are always asking me ‘What’s up in T-Dot Kardi? What’s going on right now?'” he said. He said the perception has always been that Canadian rappers had a little more to prove, and while Americans are beginning to understand that Canada is an important market of its own, there is still sometimes a typically Canadian attitude of not being good enough expressed by the music community here. “You gotta bust in the States before you get respect back home sometimes,” said Kardi. “But Toronto’s good for me. When I need to do what I do I go to the States, but Toronto is where it’s at.”
