Just a few years after helping put Toronto hip-hop on the map, Kardinal Offishall was running out of money, struggling to land gigs and wondering what had gone wrong.
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what → help → gigs
In 2001, the trailblazing rapper released his breakthrough album, “Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1,” bringing the Caribbean-inflected sounds of his hometown to the world through club-rattling hits such as “BaKardi Slang” and “Ol’ Time Killin’.”
But the industry wasn’t as kind behind the scenes.
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industry → trailblaze → scenes
His American label, MCA Records, was absorbed by Geffen, and plans for a follow-up album featuring Pharrell and Timbaland fell apart.
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plans → absorb → Pharrell
Offishall says the new executives tried to force him into a “cookie-cutter” mould.
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executives → say → mould
“I was like, oh, you guys really have no idea who I am,” he shares in a recent interview.
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he → have → interview
After parting ways with the label, Offishall struggled financially.
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Offishall → part → label
“Money’s running out and I’m like, yo, we got any tours coming up?
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tours → run → ?
They’re like, nah,” the rapper recalls asking his team.
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rapper → ’re → team
“It was rough, to where them bank accounts were going on E after a few years.”
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accounts → go → years
He eventually toured with Akon and Gwen Stefani, though life on the road was far from glamorous.
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life → tour → road
“I didn’t even have a room every night.
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I → have → room
So I was sleeping on the tour bus and I would just go in somebody’s room and use their shower every day.”
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I → sleep → shower
For two months, he recorded music in the back of the bus, increasingly uncertain about his future.
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he → record → future
“I remember just being like, yo, what is going on with my life?”
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what → go → life
Then, on the final night of the tour, he recorded “Dangerous,” the Akon-assisted smash that would introduce him to a new generation of listeners.
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that → record → listeners
“As soon as we did that, that’s when my life changed again,” he says.
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he → do → that
Nearly two decades later, Offishall is looking back on that journey with “Firestarter Vol. 2: Everyday, Sometimes...,” a long-awaited sequel that finds the rapper, born Jason Harrow, trading bombast for candid reflections on grief, relationships and being a 50-year-old family man.
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rapper → look → grief
Despite his public profile as a “Canada’s Got Talent” judge and the global A&R lead for Def Jam Records, Offishall says he’s long guarded his personal life.
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he → say → life
Opening up on the record meant accepting that he’d have to discuss painful subjects with strangers.
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he → open → strangers
“People could ask you about your dad that passed.
uncertain
that → ask → dad
People could ask about your wife and that relationship,” he says.
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he → ask → wife
In recent years, a succession of deaths among loved ones left him in no emotional state to make another.
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succession → love → another
“There was so much death,” he says.
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he → be → ?
“They didn’t warn me about this when I was a kid, that I was going to get to an age where there will be people passing away like flies.”
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I → warn → flies
Nearly a year without another funeral finally gave him room to heal and rediscover the joy of making music.
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year → give → music
The 10-track “Firestarter Vol. 2” features some song ideas he’s had for years.
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he → feature → years
The chest-thumping “Top 3” boasts verses from reggae star Buju Banton and British actor Idris Elba.
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Top → thump → Banton
Singer BJ the Chicago Kid joins title track “Everyday, Sometimes…,” which addresses days when even getting out of bed feels overwhelming.
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getting → join → bed
Offishall wanted to show that celebrity offers little protection from ordinary human suffering.
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celebrity → want → suffering
“Money, accolades, fame, those things do not come into play when you have a loved one who is sick,” he says.
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he → come → one
Offishall is releasing the album independently, noting streaming and direct-to-consumer distribution allow artists more freedom to chart their own course, without the pressure to make an immediate commercial splash.
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streaming → release → splash
“You can kind of do things the way that you want it.
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you → do → it
It’s not as rigid as it used to be in the industry,” he says.
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he → ’ → industry
Meanwhile, his executive role at Def Jam allows him to influence the industry from within, an approach inspired by advice from Stephen Marley: “You can’t change the system from outside of the system.
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You → allow → system
That means being in meetings where he can advocate for artists and challenge executives’ assumptions, he says.
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he → mean → assumptions
Offishall won’t wait another decade to drop more music.
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Offishall → wait → music
He and Elba, a longtime friend, have recorded an entire collaborative project they’re hoping to release in spring or summer 2027.
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they → record → spring
Most of the vocals were recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Offishall reworked the production this year, adding orchestral flourishes.
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Offishall → record → flourishes
“Strings and orchestras and brass sections and it’s nasty.
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it → ’ → ?
It’s really nasty,” he says.
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he → ’ → ?
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
