Search - Kardinal Offishall :: Not 4 Sale

A lil too commercial for me.

Kurupt | chicago | 09/09/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have always been down with Kardi. His music is interesting because it encompasses a couple different genre's as well as it is international rap. All these elements accompanied with Kardi's mad energy makes him a dope artist. With that being said, this album is much different than the underground releases. Lyrically kardinal is on point. The guest appearances, beats are very commercial and wack (The dream). DANGEROUS, GIMME SOME, and DIGITAL MOTOWN are super wack and have techno type beats with the weak guest appearances. To be honest, I am really disappointed in this album. I had much higher hopes for it. All in all this is not a terrible release, it is just weak compared to Kardinal's earlier releases. If you are new to Kardinal then you need to start with his first joint EYE AN I and his second joint QUEST FOR FIRE. Kardinal may need to reconsider working with AKON. That is where a lot of the commercialism is stemming from.





Stand out tracks

BURNT

BAD LIKE WE BAD

ILL EAGLE ALIEN (this one is dope)"

Where'd The Firestarter Go? {3 ½ Stars}

Norfeest | Washington DC USA | 09/25/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Kardinal Offishall is a cat that is kind of sporadic with the releases but, once he drops, he usually comes with some pretty solid material. That was before he linked up with the over-hyped, over-saturated, pop sensation (?)/cheesy tune machine known as Akon. I'm a fan of Kardi's, but the first thing that jumped in my head when I saw he was rolling with Akon was "lower your expectations, he's associating with a wack producer." That being said, Not 4 Sale isn't necessarily a bad album. Sure, there's a ton of filler and some really cheesy attempts at club bangers. It's obvious he set his sights on chart positions. Still, there are some solid joints on the album. The Clipse lend their assistance to "Set If Off" and bring that dope boy angle in a way that only they can (not too many can spit like these two, by the way). Kardi does have a few tracks that are in the same vein of his previous releases -- "Ill Eagle Alien", "Nina, "Bad Like We Bad", and "Burnt", for example. And, even though it could be labeled as wack by most, I liked the T-Pain assisted "Go Home With You."



The most obvious flaw -- and the one that you should've seen coming a mile away -- is the clubby tracks supplied by Akon. "Dangerous" is wack. Period. I mean, sure, it's a serviceable club joint, but Kardi dropped the ball here. There are some that are sort of clubby but manage to stay in Kardi's lane (Digital Motown) and aren't that bad, but they get overshadowed by abysmal tracks that should've never made the album (Numba 1 & Gimme Some).



Not 4 Sale isn't really that bad an album, but the lame tracks are really, really lame and that takes a way from a lot of it. Sure, he teamed up with Akon and his rep took a hit for it, but Kardi hasn't deviated very far from his original steez -- this is the guy that was collaborating with Sean Paul before they both made it big, after all. Of course, being associated with Akon, you should expect some changes, but nothing as bad as you'd expect from most Konvict artists. I grade this one on a curve since every Konvict release has been boo boo to date. The Firestarter is still here, he just has some new friends influencing him now. I recommend giving this one a listen.



Standout Tracks: Ill Eagle Alien, Burnt feat. Lindo P., Set It Off feat. The Clipse (My Favorite), Go Home With You feat. T-Pain , and Bad Like We Bad"