Kardinal Offishall Works the Graveyard Shift, Spits 16 Bars in Our Studio

A hip-hop icon in Canada, Kardinal Offishall is still looking to break out in the States. The MC performed for Nelson Mandela when he was only 12-years-old, was featured in a Pepsi commercial and won a pair of Juno Awards -- equivalent to a Grammy -- before anyone outside of Toronto knew of the charismatic rapper.

"I performed for Mandela when he was released from prison when he came to Toronto. We rocked it and I was mad young too. We did a full out 10, 15 minute performance for him," Kardinal reminisced.

Now, the MC has teamed up with Akon and signed to the producer/singer's Kon Live record label in an effort to bring his success stateside. So far, with the help of the rapper's first single 'Dangerous,' Kardinal is being well-received and the MC is eager to release his upcoming album, 'Not 4 Sale,' which hit stores on Sept. 9.

"A few years ago I had made a t-shirt and it said "Not For Sale" and it had a bar code underneath, and I just made it because sometimes you get tired of wearing the same old, same old. I had that t-shirt made and we [did] a lot of traveling with it," Kardinal said when explaining the title of his new album. "Everywhere I wore it somebody would freak out about the shirt for a different reason, like there were so many different people around the world that would love it." Buy 'Dangerous' on iTunes.