Whatever Happened To......Kardinal Offishall?

Kardinal Offishall - "Bang Bang"
from Kill BloodClott Bill Mixtape

Update: Fire and Glory is up on RadioBlog at http://www.mrkamoji.com/

Remember when Kardinal Offishall was supposed to be the illest thing to come out of Canada? The dude was no Ben Johnson either. His mix of Jamacian-influenced cadence, UK grime, and general Canadianness (he's rapped about free health care) got him recognized by Busta Rymes, Green Latern, and underground support from Semtex (BBC).

Ever since he dropped Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1, the dude got and no major radio airplay, but he got heat from message boards and underground radio. There were rumors of a major label deal, and affiliations with either Dipset or G-Unit, depending on which message board you frequented, but that talk ceased a year ago.

Since this dude has been on more mixtapes than your mother, I can certainly see him staying "in the underground" for most of his career. Sad.

Update: While I was doing my internets research, I found out that the dude's career isn't dead yet (at least not in Canada). He's opening for Fiddy on his Canadian tour dates, he's opened for Jay-Z as well. But as far as I can tell the dude is still unsigned. MCA Records distributed some of his mixtapes last year to try and get him some underground recognition, but apparently they stopped updating his website in June 2004.