PHOTO : CARAS / IPHOTO
PHOTO : CARAS / IPHOTO
KARDI & JULLY BLACK AT THE JUNOS KARDI AT THE 2021 JUNOS
By that fall , Kardinal Offishall was the new creative executive director of A & R at Universal Music Canada ( UMC ).
“ I just came back from vacation , so it was a much-needed recharge or regeneration . I was on a small island in the Caribbean . Our family has a little spot that we go to . It was super awesome . I always say when I go there , it feels like it ’ s a place that Satan can ’ t penetrate !” Offishall exclaims as we kick off our conversation over Zoom in the last days of July . His bleached high-top hair is in full form , as he lets out a characteristically sharp and infectious laugh . At this point , we ’ re just a few months removed from his most recent promotion to senior vice president of A & R at UMC . “ For a cool week , I had nobody asking me for anything — I had no emergencies , no fires to put out , no whining artists , and no overzealous managers . Everything was good for a week ; it was just me , the wife , and the kids .”
As he explains it , using an analogy that probably few Gen-Z kids will get , his life these days is like level four of Tetris . “ Just trying to figure out the pieces and putting them together to make it work . I tell people all the time , for me , it ’ s an enchanted life that I live . Honestly , and not to get super cliché or whatever , but it ’ s really just trying to figure out how to take blessings that don ’ t necessarily fit together , and make them all work within a specific timeframe .”
First and foremost , his priority is being a good husband , father to his three kids – four-year-old daughter , and sevenand nine-year-old sons – and friend . “ But then , music is the nucleus for pretty much everything . Music is at the core of everything that I do , whether it ’ s corporate , whether it ’ s creative , sometimes even in my personal life ; music is at the core . It ’ s a balancing act of trying to retain the passion , the memories , all the stuff that made you fall in love with music and has you still in love with music , but then also trying to
figure out what it looks like as you continue to forge new paths and move forward ,” he says . “ You can ’ t really take the same philosophy and move it forward , because music has changed . The way we ’ ve consumed it , the way the new generation has consumed it , the way they view it — the things that are heralded , held important , revered — it ’ s all evolving at a much faster pace .”
By dint of age , now being 45 and having been in the rap game since he was a teenager , Offishall has directly experienced a revolutionary period for the industry , both as an artist and executive . Technological disruptions – from SoundScan ’ s introduction in 1991 , which proved rap ’ s commercial market was larger than most thought , to streaming analytics now shaping how A & R is done in 2021 – have shaped and reshaped the music industry for the entirety of his professional life .
As well , as a kid he witnessed the birth of Canadian hiphop in the 1980s and early ‘ 90s , idolizing his “ holy trinity ” of Maestro Fresh Wes , Dream Warriors , and Michie Mee . “ Also , Rumble and Strong , B-Kool , Self-Defense , so many artists that were around in the ‘ 80s and were really forging the path . People like DJ Ron Nelson , and Mastermind was a young kid back in those days doing stuff . In Toronto , the Concert Hall era , that ’ s always gonna be Canada ’ s entry point ,” he says .
Looking back over Canadian hip-hop ’ s arc , from Maestro to Drake , Offishall sees himself as a bridge . In the historical context , he views the era ( late- ’ 90s and early-2000s ) in which he began making a name for himself as the bridge between the forefathers of Canadian rap and today ’ s global stars .
“ Before me , it ’ s like , ‘ There ’ s this thing called hip-hop and let ’ s just get involved ,’ and the era that came after me was like , ‘ Okay , it ’ s established and now it ’ s time to reap the benefits .’ My era was kind of in between . So , myself , Saukrates , Choclair , Marvel , Solitair , Tara Chase , Jully Black , et cetera , our whole crew at the time – The Circle – we literally had
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