Kardinal Offishall [click to read] has spent much of his career as an artist on the verge of super stardom. Though his U.S. debut earned respectable sales, 2001’s Quest for Fire failed to establish the Jamaican-Canadian as a leading force in music. His second attempt at cracking the American market withered away with the collapse of MCA Records, relegating him to being heard only through a series of well-received mixtapes. Now armed with an Akon co-sign and a Top 10 hit in “Dangerous,” the face of Canadian Hip Hop hopes to finally breakthrough with Not 4 Sale.
Kardinal has undergone a few stylistic changes since Quest for Fire. Better known for his dancehall-meets-hip-hop hybrid, he is now a bit more Romeo than Rudebwoy. His tough talk subsides as Not 4 Sale frequently tip toes deeper into the waters of pop and R&B. Celebrity Face even takes a full-body dive with “Gimme Some” and “Due Me a Favour,” complete with the requisite Timbaland-esque synths and stutter-step arrangements. Kardinal has flirted with softer territory in the past with songs like “Maxine” and “Everyday Rudebwoy,” but he has never created music with this much crossover appeal. The Toronto native defends his decision to reach deeper into other genres, saying, “If you put me in a box, I will suffocate/I will dance with the dancehall and hop with the hipsters…Used to have a backpack on like Kanye/Then I dipped to the platinum and now the words pay.”
High-energy tunes like “Bad Like We Bad” and “Burnt” restore Kardinal‘s liveliness. On the latter, he speaks almost entirely in Jamaican patois as reggae artist Lindo P and producer Shea Taylor add to the frenzied pace. Offishall‘s fierceness is also on display on the socially-minded “Family Tree (Still Eyerize),” On the self-produced track, he takes irresponsible rappers to task proclaiming, “It’s hard to get along, easy to get a nine/Hard to get a deal but easy to keep lyin’ (what)/On one hand we expose reality/Pardon me, exploit for charity decoys/Tax write-offs, yup, continue the d-boy/Persona, I’m a product of a lot of questionable conducts!”
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Not 4 Sale delivers its best moments during such adrenaline-raising songs, but the mellow “Nina” ranks among the album’s strongest tracks. Supa Dups of Black Chiney fame updates a classic reggae riddim as Kardi carries on a familiar metaphor on a special type of relationship.
But the vibes aren’t always so pure as Not 4 Sale is the most radio-friendly entry in Kardinal Offishall‘s catalogue. It’s also one of the most surprising given his history as someone who is accessible without compromising too much of his uniqueness. He strangely implores fans to not accept subpar music, only to replicate those same trends – like limp come-ons and predictable content – moments later. Questionable pairings with Rihanna and T-Pain pull Kardinal even further from his core strengths and closer to the mediocrity he wants fans to reject. This “everything for everyone” approach manages to make Not 4 Sale occasionally sound like a clich
