''Not 4 Sale'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Canadian

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...

, released September 9, 2008 on

Kon Live Distribution Kon or KON may refer to: Places * Koń, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland * Kon Tum province, Vietnam :* Kon Tum, capital of Kon Tum province, Vietnam. * Karkhaneh-ye Sefid Kon, a village in Lorestan Province, Iran * Kon, India, ...

and

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. It is his second international major-label album after '' Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1'', released in 2001. It was a critical success, and included the top five ''Billboard'' Hot 100 single " Dangerous", and the minor hit " Numba 1 (Tide Is High)".

Background

On July 2, 2007, the single "Graveyard Shift", featuring Akon, was premiered on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

's Hip-Hop Nation channel. It was originally the album's first single.Mixtape Monday: Gucci Mane Shrugs Off Feud With Young Jeezy; Akon Spits Again
MTV. Accessed on August 27, 2008. In March 2008, the first single " Dangerous", also featuring Akon, was released. It proved to be Kardinal's most successful single, peaking at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In June 2008, Kardinal released the mixtape, ''Limited Time Only'', which had snippets of five songs that would appear on the album. One of those songs, "Burnt", featuring Lindo P, was accompanied by a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

in late June. On July 15, "Burnt" and "Set It Off" featuring

Clipse Clipse, also known as the Clipse, is an American hip-hop, hip hop duo from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Formed in 1994, it consists of brothers No Malice, Gene "Malice" and Pusha T, Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton. Pusha T was known as Terrar during t ...

, were released on

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; In August, a music video was released for "Set It Off". The song " Numba 1 (Tide Is High)", featuring

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

, is a cover of the reggae song "

The Tide Is High "The Tide Is High" is a 1967 rocksteady song written by John Holt, originally produced by Duke Reid and performed by the Jamaican group the Paragons, with Holt as lead singer. The song gained international attention in 1980, when a cover versi ...

".Kardinal Offishall : Artists
KardinalOffishall.com. Accessed on July 3, 2008. The version featuring

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, she began her musical career as a songwriter and backing vocalist for other artists under the wing of record producer Anthony De ...

is the album's fourth single. A music video was released for the song "Nina", though it was not released as a single. Kardinal's idea for the album title was from a custom-made T-shirt which read "Not 4 Sale" and had a bar code on it. Kardinal explained why he chose ''Not 4 Sale'' as the title:

Reception

The album sold 11,869 copies in the United States in its first week of release. It entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 40. Not 4 Sale - Kardinal OffishallBillboard. Accessed on October 2, 2008. As of February 15, 2009, the album has sold 34,822 copies. In Canada, it entered the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

at number eight, with 4,247 copies sold in the first week. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "an entirely solid album," also stating "this freedom fighting and socially conscious writing is tempered with hooky club tracks that never fail." ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' gave it 3 out of 4 stars, noting "his potent blend of hip-hop and dancehall gives him a flavor all his own."

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

gave the album a 6/10 rating, writing "although many of the tracks here are glossy pop productions, Kardinal has not really changed since he was first heard in the '90s."Kardinal Offishall - Not 4 Sale
PopMatters. Accessed on October 2, 2009. The album won the award for Rap Recording of the Year at the

2009 Juno Awards The Juno Awards of 2009 honoured music industry achievements in Canada in the latter part of 2007 and in most of 2008. These ceremonies were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the weekend ending 29 March 2009. Loverboy was induct ...

.Rap Recording of the Year
JUNO Awards. Accessed on October 2, 2009.

Track listing

Samples and interpolations

* "Numba 1 (Tide Is High)" contains an interpolation of "

" by

The Paragons The Paragons were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, initially active in the 1960s. Their most famous track was "The Tide Is High", written by band member John Holt. Career The Paragons were originally Garth "Tyrone" Ev ...

* "Ill Eagle Alien" contains an interpolation of "

Englishman in New York "Englishman in New York" is a song by the English singer-songwriter Sting, from his second studio album '' Nothing Like the Sun'', released in October 1987. Branford Marsalis played soprano saxophone on the track, while the drums were played by ...

" by

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

* "Nina" contains excerpts from "My Conversation" by

Slim Smith Slim Smith (born Keith Smith; 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica – 1972) was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book ''Reggae: The Rough Guide'' (1997), Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge ...

& The Uniques

Chart positions

Personnel

* Hakim Abdulsamad – producer * Chris Athens – mastering * Leslie Brathwaite – mixing * Bryan Brock – art direction, design * Danny Reid Carter – A&R * Mike "Angry" Eleopoulos – engineer * Cliff Feiman – production supervisor * Jeremy Harding – mixing * Shawn Holiday "Tubby" – executive producer, A&R * Jason Joshua – mixing * Tyson Kuteyi – mixing, vocal mixing * Glenn Lewis – composer * Paul Marshall – engineer * Martin Riley – composer * Fareed Salamah – mixing assistant * James "Scrappy" Stassen – engineer * Devyne Stephens – executive producer * Aliaune "Akon" Thiam – producer, executive producer * Lloyd Tyrell – composer * Ianthe Zevos – creative art

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Akon Albums produced by Alex da Kid Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Jake One Albums produced by Kardinal Offishall Albums produced by Nottz Geffen Records albums Kardinal Offishall albums KonLive Distribution albums Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year recordings