Akon Passed On Signing Drake, Kardinal Offishall Says

'It's one of those things that worked out beautifully for Drake with YMCMB. He's got a good camp,' Kardi tells 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

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Akon sure has an ear for top-notch talent; just ask T-Pain and Lady Gaga. Still, even the best music execs miss out from time to time, and on Wednesday's "RapFix Live," Kon's buddy Kardinal Offishall revealed the "Locked Up" singer's most notable miss.

"The biggest one that he passed on, I told him about Drake early," Kardi revealed. "I said, 'Kon, this kid is a T.V. star... and this kid is crazy.' "

Kardinal, like Drizzy, hails from Toronto, but was able to establish himself as a notable rap talent years before Drake broke out with 2009's So Far Gone."I had met him years before he started with his first mixtape," Offishall said. "The thing that's dope about Drake is that I remember, like he was just hungry because he wanted to make that transition from the acting to the rapping."

Kardi recalled a specific meeting where the OVO spitter played him an early mixtape, which he was instantly impressed with. The two even collaborated on "The Last Hope," a song off of Drake's 2007 mixtape Comeback Season. It would take a number of years, but by the time Drake officially arrived with So Far Gone, there was little doubt that he was going to be huge. "After he blew, I went back and said, 'See Kon, I told you,' " Kardinal said. "But it's one of those things that worked out beautifully for Drake with YMCMB. He's got a good camp."

Where do you think Drake's career would be today if he had signed with Akon? Let us know in the comments!

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• Drake
• Akon

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