Kardinal Offishall Teams With Lupe Fiasco and Melanie Fiona for Children's Charity

Some artists get a taste of international stardom and forget about the little people, but anyone who's followed Kardinal Offishall's career won't be surprised that, in the wake of his Akon-assisted 2008 single, 'Dangerous,' becoming a worldwide smash, his feet are still firmly planted on the ground. With the Toronto hip-hop godfather wrapping up production on his next album, 'Mr. International,' this week he'll take time out to play host with Lupe Fiasco and Melanie Fiona at Toronto's Kool Haus on September 10 as part of TIFF in support of ONEXONE, a non-profit dedicated to improving children's lives around the world.

Putting Kardi, Lupe Fiasco and Melanie Fiona on the same stage will send the needle on the celebrity wattage meter well into the red. But to hear Offishall describe the force of nature behind ONEXONE, founder and chair Joey Adler, you'd think he was the one who was starstruck.

"She is so passionate about it," he tells Spinner, "and she's able to connect and make me feel as passionate towards giving as I do towards my music."

Offishall says he feels liberated by ONEXONE's mission, which "really drives home the fact that you can improve on things one person at a time. They're one of the first charities that actually came with that mentality that everybody's life is equal and that no person, just because of their economic status, is more valuable than another one."

In a world where every celebrity has a pet cause, his endorsement comes across as singularly genuine: Not only does he support them, he summons statistics and paraphrases from their mission statement with ease, pointing out that ONEXONE raised over $13 million in donations and supplies last year.

"A lot of people come [to Toronto and Canada] because they're not able to have the basic necessities of life, obviously just something as simple as water to drink. I think that it's only right that we get involved and help these children have the basic necessities that a lot of us take for granted everyday, being Canadian citizens."

Though his global profile is on the rise, Offishall is an elder statesman in Canadian music, having been in the industry for over a decade. One of the byproducts of that maturity, he explains, is that you learn how to turn idealism into action.

"When you're younger, you kind of have this attitude that you want for there to be world peace and this and that, and it's kind of vague," he explains. "But when you go throughout life and you can actually pinpoint different ways that you can bring about change, then everything becomes clear. Knowing that there was something we could do to help out the people in Haiti, knowing people like Joey, knowing people like even other people like [former CFL star and philanthropist] Pinball Clemons and work with these different amazing organizations, it helps give me a clearer path to what I need to do and helps me be able to articulate it better to the masses."

The risk that he's about to turn into another Bono is balanced by the raw energy in Offishall's latest single, 'Anywhere (Ol Time Killin' Part 2),' the speaker-busting sequel to his 2001 hit. If that and face-rippers like 'Smash the Club' are any indication, Offishall isn't exactly mellowing. He is, however, enjoying himself.

Watch Kardinal Offishall's 'Anywhere (Ol Time Killin' Part 2)'
"I'm having so much fun recording this album, it's definitely going to be one of those ones where the label is like, 'Listen, enough is enough, that's it, stop recording, let's put out what we have.'" He's already banked collabs with T-Pain, Faith Evans, Estelle and Akon (to whose label, Konvict Music, Offishall is signed) and sounds pumped up about working with a new artist, emerging UK singer Loick Essien, as well as the video he's just made for 'Anywhere,' due out any day now.

To longtime fans, the echo of an early single in the title of his new one is a welcome reminder that some of us have been listening to him spitting straight fire for longer than most of his new fans in places like Australia, China and India -- three of his recent tour stops -- might realize. For his part, Kardi insists that his career runs on his own timetable, and not anyone else's.

"I'm a spiritual person, and I always say God is never late."

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