Kardinal Offishal Celebrates 15th Anniversary Of ‘Not 4 Sale’ Album, Which Included Version Of ‘Tide Is High’
Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishal is celebrating the 15th anniversary of his 2008 Not 4 Sale album, which contains an interpolation of the Paragons’ most commercially successful song, Tide is High, written by late Reggae singer John Holt in 1967.
Produced by Dwayne “Supa Dups” Chin-Quee, Kardinal’s versions of Tide is High, titled Numba 1, one featuring Rihanna and the other featuring Keri Hilson, were venerated by the rapper on an Instagram post on Monday.
“15 year anniversary of this album today. Dr Dre almost came out of retirement when he hopped on #SETITOFF featuring the Clipse, because of a young kid named 1DA from the East side of the city…
Dangerous was made on Timbaland’s tour bus, on the Gwen Stefani tour, in Vancouver, outside of our hotel (I was broke AF at the time…),” he noted.
“Numba 1 had a version with all the most sexy and successful women in the game… (Rihanna, @nicolescherzinger and Keri Keri)…
Obviously, everyone knows #DAngerous and #Numba1 with Rihanna or Keri Hilson. We also had an all-star cast of producers and artists-some of whom got their first placement on this album and are now the biggest in the world-working with everyone from Beyoncé to Drake to Rick Ross to Eminem to Bruno Mars to Imagine Dragons…the list goes on. Very proud of that. It wasn’t by accident,” he added.
Continued Kardinal: “15 years later and this album is still taking me around the world, still going viral, still having little kids discover some of these songs for the first time. Very ahead of its time. The gift and the gift that keeps on giving. We ran so others could fly. My city FLY AF now”.
Described as one of the most enduring singers in Jamaican music, with songs spanning the rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall genres, John Holt died in England on October 19, 2014.
According to whosampled.com, The Tide Is High, which gained worldwide recognition after a 1980 number one cover by the group Blondie made it a global hit, has been sampled in a total of six songs, including Kardinal’s, and covered 18 times by singers including The Mighty Diamonds, Gregory Isaacs, Maxi Priest, and Julian Marley.
Blondie’s interpretation of The Tide is High topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles chart in 1980, while Kardinal’s Numba 1 which was described as a “minor hit” reportedly sold 11,869 copies in the United States in its first week of release.
Over in Kardinal’s native Canada, it reached No. 38 on the Canadian Hot 100, with 4,247 copies sold in the first week.
Born in Toronto, Canada to Jamaican parents, the Dangerous artist whose given name is Jason Harrow, 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 also no stranger to hardcore Dancehall artistes, having teamed up with Bounty Killer for the duet Sick in 2002, and Agent Sasco for the single OG in 2015.
In April 2021, Kardinal, who first came to attention with Hip Hop songs such as BaKardi Slang, Ol’ Time Killin‘ and Maxine, paid 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).
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. His role was to continue to undertake his previous duties to discover, sign, and develop new artistes, and, among other things, provide strategic direction to the company.
That same month, the rapper, who was born in Canada to Jamaican parents, also praised Temperature artist Sean Paul 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.
Kardinal had described Money Jane as a “massive song” which “helped raise a generation of kids who would continue to normalize the flex of mixing hip-hop with dancehall…”
The Toronto native had also given a blow-by-blow description as to how Sean Paul’s appearance on Money Jane, a song penned by Kardinal about a wealthy woman who provides financial and material support for her male companion came to fruition.
He had explained that Sean Paul’s verse was recorded in Jamaica “and I had to then cut and chop up the arrangement properly, so it sounded like we had written the song together”.
Released by Universal Music Canada in 2002, Money Jane was a big hit in Canada, and was also 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, and was also nominated for Canada’s Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year.