Album: Kardinal Offishall – Not 4 Sale

advertisement

Combine Sean Paul and Akon and what do you get? Kardinal Offishall, the Canadian Hip Hop artist and producer. His latest album is titled Not 4 Sale. Although he has been in the music industry for over 10 years and has released three studio albums, none have equaled the success of his first single from the Not 4 Sale, Dangerous featuring Akon. Kardinal has been part of the Konvict label since 2007. With one listen you would know it. Stylistically the production is identical to the rest of the Konvict crew.

Not 4 Sale is a respectable album, with cruisy, dancehall type beats and some catchy reggae influenced tunes, but chances are that after you take it out of your CD player it’s likely to get lost in your collection as it’s just not memorable or unique enough to make multiple appearances. It sounds like another Konvict contender, and although it’s generally good, there’s nothing that stands out. The Jamaican Sean Paul-esque stuff has been done before and this record doesn’t add any new dimension that we haven’t already seen.

Not 4 Sale features fifteen songs and nine contain collaborators. Some of these are front runners in the music scene right now such as T-Pain, Rihanna, Estelle and up and comer The Dream. However, it feels like the featured artists own the songs and Kardinal Offishall is there to fill the gaps. The best track on the album is the dance-floor filler Dangerous. It features Akon and could easily be mistaken for an Akon track as stylistically it is identical to his music and the hook makes the song.

There are too many interludes at the end of tracks throughout the CD. Interludes should only be included if they are exceptional, like the classic example of Snoop’s Doggystyle. On this album they aren’t particularly funny where they are meant to be and they go for too long so the listener loses interest.

That being said, it is a decent effort for the man known as Canada’s “hip hop ambassador” and he is likely to score a few more top rating singles out of it. With his impressive lineup of friends in the industry as well as guest spots in various music videos he might only improve from here. And props to the boy for managing to put the word ‘crikey’ on a Canadian Hip Hop album.

Available through Geffen Records