DX: So these offers [from Jay-Z and Akon] came in pretty much close to one another?
KO: Yeah, they were pretty much around the same time. We were dealing with his man Jay Brown. And they were definitely talking to my management and stuff like that. But again, like I said, I don’t wanna be one of them emcees that’s like, “Yeah, these type niggas was trying to get at me but I was like, 'Nah, son.'” It’s not like that.

DX: Let’s bring it from the past to the present and talk about what you got on deck next. “Graveyard Shift” was a hard-ass street record, but this new single “Dangerous” is a dance record more in the Akon tradition. So which Kardinal are we getting on your Konvict Music debut?
KO: Well the thing is, if you know anything about Kardinal [you know] you can’t put me in a box. I’ve come up watching people like The Fugees, people like Busta Rhymes, people like a Akon, or even a Jay-Z, people that have done joints that can bang on the streets but at the same time have also come with joints that play in like every frat club or any club where they play whatever type music. And that’s the whole thing, I don’t ever try and limit myself. And I am whatever you hear. So when you hear one of the harder joints that’s part of who I am, I gotta get that out. But at the same time, I love to have fun. I come from T Dot, where we got some of the most dangerous chicks in the world. So of course we had to make a song about that. And that’s the whole thing about it, my music is an extension of myself and I’m not just one way all the time. I’m not in the clubs all day long. I’m not out there on the grind all day long. It’s not always terrible where I come from. So I definitely try and express all the different parts of my life through my music. And that’s what “Dangerous” is.

“Dangerous” is just the fun shit. That’s the stuff that I enjoy. I don’t live in the club 24/7, but sometimes you love to get down in the club and do what you do. So I was able to do a club record but at the same time it had content in it and I was able to flip my flow. That [diversity] is something that I always stay true to.

DX: Do you think variety has actually been a hindrance to your career though, that if you dropped that more Reggae, Dancehall vibe in your music and just made more bare bones Hip Hop tracks like “Graveyard Shift” that you’d have more success in the States?
KO: That’s the thing, there is no real formula. So it’s not to say if I did one thing that might’ve helped. For me, sometimes [variety] does get me into trouble. But I like to raise the bar. I like to put a challenge out there. Sometimes doing just that okey doke shit that you know could get poppin’ a lot easier…if that doesn’t help the game to grow, if it doesn’t put another step on the ladder in climbing up, then I don’t like to do it. [But] I think linking up with Akon really just helped me find a middle ground. I can be the [commercial] artist that I [need to] be, but at the same time try and touch a lot of the fans out there that still love Hip Hop music that’s not just one dimensional.

DX: Why don’t U.S. Hip Hop fans seem to get you you think?
KO: I think they do. That’s the dope thing is I think they do. And what’s ill is traveling across the States, and not even just the states but the world, is people do [get me]. That’s why a lot of people are really looking out for this album when it comes out. The one common thing [that I hear from] people is like, “Yo, Kardinal I’ve always been a fan, but it’s like you never got that shot.” And really what that means is I’ve never had the machine behind me the way that it’s supposed to be. But everything is in place right now.

DX: I guess it’s just you’ve been in the game for 12 years in Canada, gone gold and gotten all kinds of awards up there, but it’s almost like you’re still a new artist down here, like you’re still having to remind people of who you are.
KO: And I mean, that’s ill! My a.k.a. is “Celebrity Face.” Everywhere I go people know the face [but not always the name]. And that’s dope being able to go somewhere and kinda like…not when you start from scratch, but it’s kinda like being reborn. There’s nothing better than the feeling of being a new artist that’s all of the sudden getting shit poppin’. That’s a great place to be.

DX: Well you definitely got the rep and respect in Canada, but why didn’t your last U.S. distributed album in 2001 go gold in the States like it did in Canada you think?
KO: Because it was never designed to do that. When I had signed with MCA that first album was what they call a recompilation album. All those songs that came out on that album were actually the demos that were used to get me signed. That was never supposed to be the big studio album that would come out and sell a gang of units. The whole intent and purpose of that album was to just get my feet wet so that people could find out who I am. The next album was supposed to be the big budget album. And that came out at a time when - unfortunately for the label, their shit wasn’t together and they had to fold. But that’s the whole thing, a lot of times people get signed and the label just throws them out there and they throw everything behind it one time and if it don’t stick then that’s it. But I got some of the best representation in the game. Like, my lawyer is the same lawyer for anybody from 50 [Cent] to whoever. So we always have strategies and plans. And that album was never the big studio album that we were betting the house on. That was never the function of it. Continued on page 3 »