I remember when Kardinal Offishall's Fire & Glory dropped a month or so back that he was hoping to move at least 1,500 copies in the first week. That's not a typo. 1,500 measly units. Wow.

Talk about lowered (but sadly realistic) expectations.

And checking the latest SoundScan Top 100 Albums in Canada figures, Kardi doesn't even chart among the top 100. In fact, the only Canadian urban artist among the list is "R&B Sensation" Massari *snicker* and he's #85. WTF? It's only in the Top R&B (?!?) numbers where Kardi ranks a lowly #47 and sinking fast.

While there's obviously a difference between supporting "urban" just because it's Canadian as opposed to supporting it because it's actually good, that doesn't mean the two are mutually exclusive. On one hand, an album should live or die on its own merits. But on the other hand, that doesn't explain why 50 Cent is so popular. I'm not telling you to rush out and buy Kardi's album (mainly due to the fact that you probably won't) but I do wonder what it would take for a Toronto-based rapper to dominate the SoundScan charts.

Any suggestions?

Photo: Massari Online