Kardinal Offishall And Thrust On ‘Northern Touch’ Turning 25: ‘It Really Resonated Through The DNA Of Canada’

etcanada.com:

“Northern Touch”, arguably the most important Canadian rap song of all time, turns 25 this year. To mark the occasion, The Black Academy’s 2023 Legacy Awards, which took place last night at History in Toronto, closed the show with a tribute to the iconic track.

The song’s original artists — Kardinal Offishall, Red1 of Rascalz, Choclair and Thrust — introduced a new crop of Canadian rappers — Taaylee G, Tamir, YSN Fab and Zach Zoya — to perform their take on the 1998 rap anthem.

Eventually, the OGs even joined the young emcees to finish the song. Check out the performance below. READ MORE: Kardinal Offishall, Def Jam’s Newest Exec, Says Canada’s Music Industry Needs ‘Radical Change’: ‘We’re Decades Behind Other Countries’ Speaking to ET Canada’s Carlos Bustamante at the Legacy Awards, Kardinal Offishall said it was “incredible” to be able to celebrate the track a quarter-century later, adding that “we didn’t know that it was going to be as big as it was going to be when we did it.” Offishall recalls embarking on a sold-out, nationwide tour with his fellow “Northern Touch” artists — including Rascalz, Checkmate, Thrust and Choclair — shortly after the track was released and witnessing first-hand the impact it was having around the country. “That was the first time that we ever saw hip-hop fans from this country spaz out, like come down in droves.

Everybody was wilin’ out. And by the time that we actually performed ‘Northern Touch’, because we all did our own material, it was absolute chaos and mayhem.