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May 12th – Kardinal Offishall was born Jason D. Harrow in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, on this day in 1976.

After beginning publicly performing at age 8, Kardinal would eventually perform for South African President Nelson Mandela when he was 12, when the celebrated freedom fighter visited Toronto for the first time.

After using the stage name Kool Aid for years, the T-Dot MC would finally change it to Kardinal Offishall in honor of 17th Century French politician Cardinal Richelieu.

After releasing some indie singles, and appearing on some compilations, Kardinal released his debut album “Eye & I” on Capitol Hill Records in 1997.

Kardinal followed that up with the 2000 EP “Husslin’.”

In 2001, he released “Quest For Fire, Vol. 1” on MCA Records which spawned the hit singles “Ol’ Time Killin’” and “Bakardi Slang.”

“Fire And Glory” followed in 2005, producing the hits “Everyday (Rudebwoy)” and “Feel Alright” in the process.

In 2008, Akon signed Kardinal Offishall to his KonLive label and released the album “Not 4 Sale”. “Not 4 Sale” contained Kardinal’s biggest hits to date; “Numba 1 (Tide Is High)” and “Dangerous”, a sort of re-working of the early 1990’s Michael Jackson hit, which would also feature Akon.

“Not 4 Sale” would expose the dancehall reggae influenced rapper to his biggest international audience yet.

Kardinal is expected to release one or possibly two new albums in 2012.

Kardinal Offishall is one of Canada’s most known MC’s ever.