A lot of hip-hop fans today are complaining about lack of originality and lyricism. Well if it’s those things you seek then look no further than Toronto’s own, Kardinal Offishall. A staple on the Canadian hip-hop scene for years, this lyricist is getting ready to be full blown in the States with his debut album via Kon Live Records, Not for Sale.

Besides being a lyrical beast, Kardinal is signed to a true powerhouse label with Akon right behind him to make sure everything runs smooth.

He’s toured with 50 Cent and he’s toured with Akon, so this MC is far from a rookie and he is ready to show the world what Canada has to offer. He’s not interested in complaining about hip-hops problems, he just wants to be part of the solution.

Sixshot.com caught up with Kardinal Offishall to discuss being signed to Akon, the difference between Canadian and American fans, and why rappers need to step their game up.

You’re from Canada. I’m sure you’ve done performances here in the States and obviously in Canada. Is there a big difference?

Really and truly, it’s not as different as people might think. I’ve toured both extensively and when you’re in rural Canada or rural America, it’s pretty much the same thing. One of the things you learn when you travel outside of North America is that music fans are really music fans no matter where you go. They just might wear different colors or wear their pants a different way. For the most part, people that come to enjoy music around the world are the same. I’ve toured with 50 and G-Unit, Akon, Shaggy, and all kinda people and really a fan is a fan is a fan. It’s not as alien as one might think.

How did you get up with Akon?

Akon has been my peoples for a good number of years now. Akon and me had a mutual friend at Universal who was always trying to send Akon over here but he could never get over the border because of his record so we weren’t able to connect that way. But we started doing music together. The first song we did “Kill the Dance” was on the re-release for his first album and it sold almost a million copies internationally. We were both dudes that were always traveling internationally.

Everywhere he was going, he was hearing my name or seeing me on a feature and he really started to take notice. When he really got into a position where his label was jumping off, he flew me to Atlanta. We spoke about the mutual respect we had for one another. He told me his vision of where he wanted to take Konvict and the whole movement. I prayed on it and God showed me that it was the place to be.

Does it feel good to be signed to such a successful label?

Like a lot of artists I have a love hate relationship with the label. I love the fact that there’s a lot more money to help you do what you need to do. At the same time, I’m so passionate about my music that I don’t like my fat to be in someone else’s hands. Successful or not, there’s nobody that cares more about how you’re going to deliver your project than you. Being with Kon Live/Interscope is a good thing because they’re doing a lot of things to help me get out to the world.

I’m the type of artist who’s always on the email and always on the phone and I’m not tryna step on toes. I’m just trying to make sure that everybody has the same passion about the product that I do. When we had my listening session, I got so energetic I was almost to the point of tears. I told everybody that if they weren’t gonna put this CD in their car and they weren’t gonna tell everybody how crazy it is then they shouldn’t be fucking with the project. For some people at the label I’m just a number next to some kind of accounting ledger. There are some people who do share my passion thought and I do believe Interscope will help me reach people that I haven’t been able to reach in my career.

Tell us about the album, what was it like putting it together?

This album is interesting because it’s documenting what my life has been like for the last few years. We deal with a lot of subject matter besides just that hip-hop braggadocio. We got “Set it Off” and that’s really what it does. It features the Clipse and this joint is just solar energy pressed onto a CD. I been messin’ with the Clipse ever since we did the “Grindin’” remix. We always had a cool relationship and I felt I needed them for this album because they are two of the most underrated MC’s in this game. They’re always solid and their subject matter might not vary but for me it’s always been not what you say but how you say it. They flip stuff crazy.

There’s a joint produced by Nottz called “Love You Forever” and that song is basically me talking to the fans and telling them that I gotta love them forever and they gotta love me forever and it’s based on a mutual respect. I got a joint called “Go Home With You” that features T-Pain and it’s kinda funny because the first two verses are what my auntie would call a little more light but on the third verse it starts off with me saying “The call me Kardy/ Mr. Evolution and you can dance while you thinkin’ ‘bout the revolution/ While you vexed havin’ delusions of persecution/ I’ma stay flawless/ An instrument of execution”.

On this album we deal with love. We deal with elevation. There’s a joint called “Bad Like We Bad” and that means we bad as we many be, dope as we wanna be, and fresh as we wanna be. I start that joint off by saying “Being 21 and alive is not an accomplishment/ Where I come from that’s a pre-requisite”. It’s one of those things where I say something with a certain type of flavor.

People might get stuck on the flavor and not realize what I’m saying but to me I called this album Not For Sale because my beliefs, my values, and the things I hold dear to me are not for sale. Interscope could have given me 10 million dollars but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna be a dancing coon and bring my people further down on the totem pole.

I feel like we’re doing anything for record sales right now. I’m not one to be all self-righteous and point fingers and pretend like I don’t wild out too. I got songs where we just have fun too. There are times when I wanna hit the club, drink, and celebrate life. There’s days where we’re trying to pay the rent and I got a joint called “Do Me A Favor” featuring Estelle. There are more serious themes on there. I start out by saying “It’s like speeding down the highway with a blindfold on/ No hands on the wheel hoping God will lead me and he will”. Then I say “No Christmas here/ I take that time and a half/ Gotta make that cash/ Even if a nigga gotta drive that cab/ I’ma treat it like a limo/ You didn’t know you betta ask.” There’s days like that where everything isn’t good.

This is a mindset that a lot of people working 9 to 5 have. We tryna make the best out of the circumstances we was given and it’s funny because I think to myself that if I was originally from America, I would be a millionaire already. I gotta work hard and play the cards I was given and I gotta try and make them equal 21 so I could get that blackjack. That’s the way you gotta look at life. Whether you’re a DJ, or you clean office buildings, or you drive a cab you gotta take the told you have and make the best out of everything. Those are some of the feelings I’m getting across on this album.

It seems like you wanna get a lot across with your lyrics. Do you feel like that doesn’t happen anymore in hip-hop?

Honestly. It’s funny right now, the term rap music, because to have rap music nigga you gotta rap. People wanna look at you crazy if you wanna focus on lyrics. I never thought there would be a day when lyrics or lyricism would not be the first goal for every MC out there.

I’m not saying everybody should be and they can’t be a Nas, Jay-Z, or an Andre 3000 but at the same time aspire to a little something. When I was growing up people who didn’t know hip-hop would say that anybody could do it and it wasn’t true because not anybody could do what Kool Moe Dee, Chuck D, or Big Boi from Outkast was doing.

Nowadays, yeah anybody can rap because the standards are so low. Anybody could do it now, just grab a couple words out the rhyming dictionary and call it a day. As long as there’s a banging beat behind it, anybody can hop those hurdles. To me, it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t sit well with me. If you love hip-hop and you want it to survive you gotta keep pushing the envelope and you gotta get other people to push the envelope as well.

Do you feel like you could bring some attention back to that with your album?

I am no savior for the game or any crazy stuff like that. The way I look at is that I’m bringing out myself. I’m not bringing out Mobb Deep stories, or 50, I’m just talking about me. What made me fall in love with hip-hop is seeing everybody’s different story and seeing how they perceive hip-hop through their own eyes. We got 10 Jeezys, 10 Jay-Z’s, a couple 50’s, and now we got like 6 Kanye’s. People say imitation is the highest form of flattery but don’t flatter me. Biting is not cool. Be your own artist and bring something new to the table. My advice to dudes trying to get into the game is to do your own thing and not eat off another man’s plate. Make your own lane so you could always feed yourself. If you got your own thing you won’t have to worry about there being enough food. We need to challenge each other as artists.

Aight so when is the album coming? What else can we expect? Give us the whole rundown.

The album is coming in July and it has guest appearances from the Clipse, Estelle, Pussycat Dolls, Akon and T-Pain. I smashed a couple beats out by myself but I got Nottz, Jake One, Exile, we got a lot of great production. A lot of people complain about the game but I don’t do that. I’d rather be part of the solution. I wanna offer my music to the people as an example and maybe they can follow my lead. The leaders in the game didn’t set out to be leaders, they’re just making hot music and we need to stop worrying about the problems and just get back to the real foundation of hip-hop, which is the music. If the foundation is strong it can’t be rocked.

Anything you wanna say to your fans out there?

To the fans, you know what it is; Not For Sale is coming in July. As of today you can check for me on Estelle’s album as well. To all my fans, just be a fan of good music and realize that the consumer controls the game and control that shift so if you buy that hot shit,you can make a statement with every record you buy.