Heds and Dreds: Ol’ Time Killin’ with Kardinal Offishall

Words by Jesse Serwer

Kardinal, Nardwuar and Solitair

The last time we heard from Kardinal Offishall, he was Toronto’s best known rapper. Things have changed a little since then but one thing that hasn’t is Kardi’s knack for blending East Coast hip-hop and reggae/dancehall vibes into a sound that’s purely Canadian. “Ol Time Killin’ Part II (Anywhere),” a brand-new leak from the upcoming Mr. International LP, is a sequel to Kardi’s now decade-old tribute to good ol’ sound bwoy destruction, a big tune on a heavy beat hammered out of the Sleng Teng and Death in the Arena riddims by a guy called Dreddy. Stream it below, or download here.

Kardinal Offishall – Ol Time Killin Part II

Few notable rappers have repped West Indian culture more thoroughly and consistently than Kardinal, who grew up the son of Jamaican immigrants in Toronto’s Scarborough section. On the occasion of his return, it only makes sense to give the T-Dot MC the “Heds and Dreds” treatment and revisit some of his biggest sound bwoy killers.

“Naughty Dread” (1996)

A rude bwoy from him born, Kardinal’s very first single from 1996 flipped Bob Marley’s “Natty Dread” into an above-average slice of mid ’90s backpack rap. An almost entirely different track, minus the Marley sample, entitled “Naughty Dread, Pt. II,” appeared on his 1997 debut album, Eye & I.

Baby Blue Sound Crew-“Money Jane” (2000)

Sean Paul once told me that Toronto was the first international city to really embrace his music. Back in 2000, when he was just a likkle baldhead rising star with a couple dancehall hits under his belt, Sean teamed with Kardinal for the first time on “Money Jane,” by Toronto selectors Baby Blue Sound Crew. The single was later featured on the soundtrack to the Bobby D./Eddie Murphy movie Showtime and (in a remixed form) on Kardi’s 2001 album, Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1.

“BaKardi Slang” (2001)

Kardinal’s breakthrough hit was a Torontonian answer to Big L’s Harlem slang breakdown “Ebonics,” with the rapper illustrating the differences between his home city’s pan-Caribbean patois dialect, and more widely used hoodspeak: So when we singin about the girls, we singin about di gal dem/Y’all talkin about, ‘say that one more time’/We talkin about ‘yo, come again’/ Y’all talkin about ‘that n***a’s a punk’/ We talkin about ‘dat yute’s a fosse’…You’re talkin about ‘yo, that girl’s hype’/We like ‘she’s the bundown’/ Y’all say ‘a DJ battle’/We say ‘clash with two sounds.’

“Ol’ Time Killin”/”Maxine” (2001)

The names Jully Black, Wio-K and Korry Deez won’t mean much to non-Canadians (or even to many Canadians, perhaps) but they were part of the all-star Caribbean Canuck cast on the 2001 version of  “Ol’ Time Killin.'” Sampling Barrington Levy, Chaka Demus and Pliers and even Smif N Wessun in its hook,  Kardinal rapped “from T-Dot to the Bronx and Brixton and back.” The video, helmed by half-Trini director Little X,  also included a teaser for “Maxine,” a throwback single on the Stalag riddim. Busta Rhymes, in many ways Kardinal’s closest stylistic cousin, appeared on a remix.

Clipse- “Grindin’ (Selector Remix) feat. Sean Paul, Bless and Kardinal Offishall

Virginia’s Clipse aren’t often associated with dancehall but, if you listen closely, the Thornton brothers know their badman tunes. Check Pusha T rhyming Gallardo with Nardo, and singing “Burrup” on “Mr. Me Too.” For the “Selector Remix” of their breakout single “Grindin,'” the duo and producers the Neptunes tapped Sean Paul, Bless and Kardinal. All three of ’em pretty much killed it, but Kardi gets the biggest forward for opening his verse with an enthusiastic interpretaion of Bob Marley’s “Hammer.”

“E.G.G. (Everybody Gone Gangsta)” (2005)

Released only in Canada, Kardinal’s third LP had appearances from Spragga Benz, Busta Rhymes, a pre-U.S. fame Estelle and a still-on-the-rise Vybz Kartel,  on the obligatory fake-G-diss “E.G.G.”

“Numba 1 (Tide is High)”/”Nina” (2008)

2008’s Not 4 Sale gave Kardinal his first U.S. Top 10 hit in “Dangerous” and current top-tier hip-hop producers Boi 1-Da and Alex da Kid their earliest credits. And it was stacked deep with Caribbean flavor like opener “Burnt” and “Bad Like We Bad,” with dancehall producer Jeremy Harding and T-Dot selectress Tasha Rozez. Kardi scored a nice-sized hit with “Numba 1 (Tide is High),” an update of Blondie’s lite-reggae hit produced by Black Chiney’s Supa Dups that, in its single/version inexplicably (or perhaps because she was unavailable to promote) dropped Rihanna (who appeared on the album version) for Keri Hilson. “Nina,” which saw Kardi flex his considerable deejay skills (complete with Josey Wales-style “Lawwwwd” adlibs) over the “My Conversation” riddim, was the cream of the crop, though.