Soon after, Red1 of the Rascalz, whom k-os befriended at the 1995 "Explosion Tour", invited him to move to Vancouver, British Columbia. There he contributed a verse and chorus lines to the Rascalz' "Global Warning" album, released in 1999. He had also been invited to contribute to Rascalz' groundbreaking single "Northern Touch", but was unable to participate due to other commitments. k-os returned to the music scene by performing at the North by Northeast music festival in 1999. He took stage with the Vancouver band Namedropper. Inspired by Michael Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, The Beatles, The Roots and Stevie Wonder, k-os worked on a new debut album. He described his new musical focus on "doing stuff really obscure and making music for myself." He recorded a demo tape and began looking for a record company to sign with, eventually settling on Capitol Records. Later, the parent company EMI transferred his record deal to another label, Astralwerks, co-owned by Virgin Records, after some management and scheduling issues. After the transfer k-os was added to the roster of the Toronto-based artist management firm "Chris Smith Management". On March 26, 2002, k-os released his debut album "Exit" in Canada to critical acclaim. The United States release followed the next year on January 28, 2003. The album incorporated several music styles, and was described as a "carefully blended pastiche of hip-hop, soul, rock, R&B, and a touch of reggae" by "Stylus Magazine". "Billboard Magazine" called the album "One of the finest hip-hop records Canada has ever produced." The first single and promotional track for the album was "Heaven Only Knows". Like the "Musical Essence" single, the video for "Heaven Only Knows" was sponsored by a VideoFACT grant. The second single, "Superstarr Pt. Zero", was then released, which won "Best Music Video" award at the 2003 Urban X-Posure Awards. After the Canadian release of the album, k-os toured with India.Arie across United States to promote his album. Despite receiving positive reviews, "Exit" sold only 40,000 albums in the U.S. and 27,000 in Canada according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album went on to win several music awards including the "Album Design of the Year" award at the Juno Awards of 2003. k-os won the "Best International Hip Hop Artist" award at the Source Awards the same year. k-os also appeared and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!