Sean Paul, Kardinal Offishall To Team Up For New Project
Three weeks after Canadian deejay/rapper, Kardinal Offishall, created black history by being named Senior Vice President, A&R, for Universal Music Canada (UMC) the Dangerous artist has announced that he and Dancehall superstar Sean Paul will be teaming up for a new project.
In an Instagram video post which he labelled “#TBT Historical Canada/Jamaica link up”, Kardinal hailed Sean Paul, noting that they go way back. The video shows Sean Paul telling Onstage’s Winford Williams that Kardinal was the first rapper to reach out to him, saying he wanted him on a track.
“Anyways, shoutout to my big bro Sean Paul. Known him for over 20 years and we still breddrens. We have some tings up our sleeve, so stay tuned. It’s a blessing to have had such a journey, but it ain’t close to done yet, insha’allah…,” he wrote a few days ago.
Kardinal, who was born in Canada to Jamaican parents, also praised the Temperature artist for collaborating with himself, Canadian DJ group Baby Blue Soundcrew, and Canadian singer-songwriter Jully Black on the hit track Money Jane two decades ago, a record which is credited with launching Sean’s international music career.
“Big up to my brother @duttypaul for getting on the big chune Money Jane with me and @missjullyblack. In Canada, this was a MASSIVE song and it helped raise a generation of kids who would continue to normalize the flex of mixing hip-hop with dancehall and dancehall artists (i first did it myself in ‘95 with “Naughty Dread”),” Kardinal wrote.
“If you’ve watched early Sean Paul videos, you should know that some were shot in Toronto by @directorx and you’ll see the whole Toronto crew as dancers and extras (yes that’s me in GET BUSY),” he added.
The Toronto native also gave a blow-by-blow description as to how Sean Paul’s appearance on Money Jane, came to fruition. The song which was penned by Kardinal, is about a wealthy woman who provides financial and material support for her male companion.
“Here’s how Money Jane happened…Baby Blue Soundcrew wanted to put Money Jane on their project (The song was finished already with just me and Jully Black-produced and written by me),” he wrote.
“They voiced Sean Paul in Jamaica and I had to then cut and chop up the arrangement properly, so it sounded like we had written the song together. There is actually a whole version of the song where Sean’s verses don’t exist (the legendary Gadget has that somewhere),” he added.
Money Jane which was released by Universal Music Canada in 2002, was a big hit in Canada, and incidentally, was Sean Paul’s first music video. It went on to cop the MuchMusic Video Award for Best Hip Hop Video, Video of the Year, and Video Award for Peoples Chic. It was also nominated for the Juno Award’s for Rap Recording of the Year.
Kardinal also wrote of how Money Jane resulted in Canada being the first place, internationally, to endorse the Wolmer’s High School old boy, creating for him a fan base so massive, that it resulted in US-based radio stations such as Hot 97 taking notice of the Jamaican’s music.
“Sean Paul came to Canada dem times and we performed at award shows and other tv appearances an ting. Canada ended up being one of his biggest markets. In 2008, he also appeared on the Dangerous rmx, along with @twistagmg (@akon put that together),” Kardinal said.
The Firestarter artist also pointed out how Sean Paul was bypassed by MCA records for signing, but months later shot to international stardom with Gimme The Light.
I remember when I signed to MCA records and played Money Jane in a meeting, the president Jay Boberg wasn’t feeling Sean Paul and he even went as far as to tell me he passed on signing him. SMH. Well, later on that year, Sean dropped Gimmie The Light and took over the whole world. Just goes to show you-when you’re a visionary and believe in something, even the biggest in the business won’t necessarily see your vision at the time.
Three weeks ago the Fire and Glory rapper had taken to Twitter to pay homage to Jamaica, the island of his parents’ birth, after creating black history by being named Senior Vice President, A&R, for Universal Music Canada (UMC) yesterday.
The promotion had come seven years after the multi-platinum, award-winning rapper and producer was appointed creative director for the company, which is regarded as one of the biggest and most profitable within the UMG group.
Born in Canada to Jamaican parents, Kardinal has always incorporated Dancehall and Reggae into his recordings and performances, and of course, unapologetically waved the Jamaican flag in his music videos.
He is no stranger to hard-core Dancehall artists, having also teamed up with Bounty Killer for the duet Sick in 2002, and the single OG with Agent Sasco in 2015.