b. Jason Harrow, 12 May 1976, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. One of the leading Canadian rappers of the late 90s and 00s, the young Harrow originally rapped under the KoolAid moniker, before adopting the Kardinal Offishall tag in 1993. By the mid-90s he had signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music Canada and a recording contract with the independent Capitol Hill Music label. During this period he was also a part of the rap crew the Circle, members of which appeared on his 1997 debut Eye & I. The album’s blend of hip-hop, dancehall and soul offered up a refreshing contrast to the popular gangsta rap style of the time.
By the late 90s, Kardinal Offishall was one of several emerging Canadian rap acts to have attracted attention across the border in the USA. Production work for Canadian rapper Choclair and an appearance on the Rascalz breakthrough US hit ‘Northern Touch’ helped raise his profile even further, and in 1999 he signed with MCA Records. The album Quest For Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1 (2001) spawned the hits ‘BaKardi Slang’ and ‘Ol’ Time Killin’’, both of which also gained extensive radio play in the USA and Jamaica.
A projected follow-up was shelved when MCA folded, although by now Offishall was spending a lot of time building up his Black Jays record label, which he had co-founded with fellow Canadian MC Solitair in 2000 under the name Silver House And The Girl. The duo gained notoriety in 2004 when they released a remix version of Jay-Z’s The Black Album. By the late 00s, the Black Jays had expanded its roster to include international artists such as Estelle and Nina Sky. During this period Kardinal Offishall released a string of mixtapes and the albums Fire And Glory (2005) and Not 4 Sale (2008). The latter marked his debut for Akon’s Konvict Muzik label.
