Album Can-I-Bus Author "mcheadcase", Epinions.com Rating Back to overview » After a tedious intro, we get to the first track, "Patriots". The production is tight here, with a listenable piano and violin loop that gives it sort of a military-esque feeling. Lyrically, all the artists on this song are on point. Bis spits straight flames, going the battle route with some outstanding punchlines and metaphors. One of the most memorable lines from this song is one of the opening lines from Bis' first verse: "Dont even talk about guns / The only 'nine' you got is a 'five dollar bill' and 'four ones'". The track also features Pras (of the Fugees) on the chorus and Free (the co-host of BET's 106 and Park) on the second verse. Most people believe Free's verse was ghostwritten by Bis, and I am one of those that believe that. Noted I have only heard three of Free's songs, and two of them featured Canibus. The third one was the one collab with Beyonce Knowels from the Fighting Temptations soundtrack. Compare that track to the two songs with Bis, and you can see the tracks with canibus had Bis writing her verses for her. Ah well, the track is still tight. The battle lyrics continue with the classic track "Get Retarded". The production pretty tight here too, a nice drum loop accompanied by a sliding guitar. It might seem kind of annoying at first but on repeat listens, it'll sound tighter and tighter. Bis tears it up lyrically, mixing battle lyrics up with scientific lyrics, all while including some amazing metaphors and similies, to create a complete classic. The chorus is kinda catchy too, containing a sample of someone saying "get retarded!". Its the perfect introduction to Bis, as he shows how he has lyrical supremacy over everyone in the game: "Aiyyo, all I really want is you niggaz to stop bitin All I really want is you niggaz to start writin All I really want is you niggaz to be original and start spittin some lyrical shit that I can listen to You haven't written the perfect rhyme yet You don't even know the sequences to the Human Genome Project You haven't come to terms with your God yet And you refuse to believe in Unidentified Flyin Objects When I bomb shit, I get retarded; probably more than you bargained I'm talkin about 'rip-a-mic-off-your-arm' shit Hype shit, blow up a mic shit, you might get beat the fuck up in broad daylight with a nighstick To the British, I'm Ghandi To the Japanese, I'm an American pilot flyin over Nagasaki To the AIDS patient I'm your last antibody sittin and waitin for a cure from modern biology" On the next track, "Nigganometry", Bis gives us a creative concept where he shows off his intelligence. On this second single (or it could be the third, I'm not sure), the production is just above average here, containing a slightly depressing piano loop, that might seem kinda fitting for this track. On this track, Bis drops some knowledge, asking Algebraic questions relating to the music industry and other various topics. Its slightly similar to the Tribe Called Quest track "What?" but it takes its own mathmatical turn. The chorus has some DJ Premier-esque scratching, using vocals samples from "Sesame Street". This track isnt as much of a classic as most make it out to be to me, though I gotta give Canibus props for doing a slightly original concept and dropping some knowledge along with it. Check this: "Now if you take a glass of water then add two cubes of ice / you should see the cup's water level slightly rise, right? / You need to watch what I'ma show you / You need to look closely at what I'ma show you / If you remove every living animal out of the sea / then wouldn't the world's ocean water level decrease? / This means the planet wasn't three-quarters water / This means the planet wasn't three-quarters water / Its nigganometry!" At the end of the track, the beat cuts off and a vocal sample plays saying "I've been trying to figure out what we can do with this here letter L" and the scratching and samples start again, spelling out "F-U-C-K L-L" which leads to our next track, the classic first single "Second Round K.O.". The track is a response to LL's indirect diss twords him on the track "4, 3, 2, 1" that I spoke on in the intro. Basically, Bis' verse on that track had two bars that spoke on LL and his tattoo of a mic on his arm. Those bars were "Meth, where the Gods at? Red where the squad at? / L, is that a Mic on your arm? Let me borrow that" LL took offense and dissed him back in his verse on the same track later on. Bis and L spoke to each other on it and L told bis if he changed his verse, then L would change his. Making a real bitch move, LL DIDNT change his verse when Bis changed his. L told Bis as long as Bis' verse was changed, then no one would know L's verse was aome at him. Canibus defended his pride by making this track. The production on this track is EXCELLENT, as Wyclef delivers a hard hitting dramatic beat, laced with a dark bass guitar loop. Lyrically, Bis is ON FIRE, as he spits line after line about L, explaining how much of a bitch he is, from him changin his verse on "4, 3, 2, 1" ("Yo, I'mma let the WORLD know the truth, you don't want me to shine / You studied my rhyme, then you laid your vocals after mine / That's a bitch move, somethin that a homo rapper would do / So when you say that you 'Platinum', you only droppin 'Clue's'") to him hiding his drug habit ("I studied your background, read the book that you wrote / Researched your footnotes, about how you used to sniff coke / Frontin like a drug-free role model, you disgust me / I know bitches that seen you smoke weed recently"). Bis goes off the handle, insulting LL's family, his TV show, his body, his attitude and basically insulting him. The result is basically one of the best diss tracks ever created, and probably the best track on the entire album: "...And if you really want to show off, we can get it on Live in front of the cameras on your own sitcom I'll let you kick a verse, fuck it, I'll let you kick em all I'll even wait for the studio audience to applaud {studio audience cheers} Now watch me rip the tat from your arm Kick you in the groin, stick you for your Vanguard award In front of your mom your 1st, 2nd and 3rd born Make your wife get on the horn call Minister Farrakhan So he could persuade me to squash it, I saw naw he started it He forgot what a hardcore artist is A hardcore artist is a dangerous man, such as myself trained to run 20 miles in soft sand On or off land, programmed to kick hundreds of bars off hand from a lost and forgotten land, you done did it man You done spitted some wack shit-it And probably thought that because it's been a minute I'll forget it?! FUCK THAT! Cause like 'Common' and 'Cube' I see 'The Bitch In Yoo' and I'mma make the world see it too, motherfucker!" If you wanna hear Canibus spit some social consciousness, then you'll like "What's Goin' On". When I first saw this track on the back of the LP, I thought it was gonna sample the classic Marvin Gaye track of the same name (note, i thought this cause I first heard this pretty much right after 9/11 when a shitload of music artists made propaganda out of it) but the production is definetly soulful, it IS reminiscent of the Marvin Gaye song. Bis basically gets into his own version of street poetry, speaking on the violence that surrounds Hip-Hop due to gunplay. He basically spills his guts on the paper along with the ink from his pen as he explains how it should stop: "Everytime a nigga reaches for the chrome / he jeopardizes more lives than his own / To some this record ain't even relevant / until you experience how a bullet can shatter your dreams in a millisec'" His flow and lyrics are complex, and the vocal samples from Havoc and the Notorious B.I.G. just add to the genius that this track is. A straight up classic In my opinion. Bis REALLY needs to do more songs like this. You wanna hear Bis get REALLY deep? You'll hear him go deeper than 20,000 leauges under the sea on "I Honor U" as he does a heartfelt dedication to his mother. The thing is the production just doesnt fit him here. Dont get me wrong, the R&B vocals are well sung and great, but the beat teeters between average and below average. Lyrically, Canibus tells the story of how his mother met his father, then goes forward giving a graphic image of his father impregnating his mother. In the third verse, he'll sound similar to Nas on Fetus, as he talks about what goes on between mom and dad during the 9 months that he's developing. The end is just sweet, as he makes an all out promise to his mom: "I swear to you / as the God's almighty truth, I'mma be there for you". Though it is not the best 'dedication to mom' song, I do think its right up there, behind Last Emperor's "Single Mother", Nas' "Dance", and Tupac's "Dear Mama". This is the type of Canibus that you dont see much, which is why I'd reccomend this album as well as his others, so you could see all the sides to Germaine Williams, to see what makes this man so ill. People are gonna think I'm overating the next track, but I personally think "Hypenitis" is genius. After a short skit, a minimalistic R&B-ish beat hits us while Jenny Fujita gives us a classic interpolation of The Vapors' "The Look of Love". The production could have been A LOT better, I got what they were trying to do, recreating the chemistry of the Vapors' song, but they could have done a HELL of alot better. Lyrically, Bis still shines as he uses his trademark extensive vocabulary to explain what 'hype' is, and talks about the dangers of dickriders and biters in the industry. This track will give inspiring emcees a chilling feel and have them wondering "who can I trust in the rap game?" Well at least thats the feeling it gave ME. The whole track can be summed up with the two bars that he finishes the first verse with: "Hypnaholics cant require my respect / cause they're snakes, and I can smell the venom on their breath". Bis goes back to the battle raps again on "How We Roll". Originally titled "Niggaz We Roll With, Bis spits over a relatively weak beat, but dont think the track itself is weak. Bis basically ANNIHALATES the microphone while Panama P.I. drops an ok chorus. Bis' lyrical display is as good here as it has been on this entire album, using a unique flow and some tight ass similies and metaphors, check it: "I'm the illest lyricist in America Emcees can't see me cause I'm too quick for the human retina to register I roll up on ya crew quicker than long sleeves At a "Speed" that would confuse Keanu Reeves So ask yourself, who am I? I'm the illest emcee that you ever seen in your fuckin life! I hop into the backseat of a cab and rhyme til the meter says 9-9-9-9! Line for line, I battle any kind of emcee at any time, whether they signed or unsigned With many lines, more lines than a million pair of Adidas More lines than the bible quoted from Jesus More lines than a African herd of zebras Niggaz just ain't fuckin wit the 'cannabis seteva' This is for ALL you niggaz doin shows and shit Cause I'll be in the crowd if you ain't controllin it" And if that isnt raw enough, Bis drops a REAL classic with "Channel Zero". Featuring some haunting production that actually FITS Bis this time around, Bis goes off with some metaphysical subject matter similar to what Willam Cooper spoke on in the book "Behold a Pale Horse". This lyricism is thought-provoking in every sense of the words. He basically touches on a lot of amazing points, from government cover ups and conspiracies to space aliens to cloning to doubting even the Bible and Religion itself. Canibus proves that he is smarter than the average emcee, his display of knowledge here is just mind boggling. My words cant even begin to discribe how good this track is. The track basically explains itself if you listen to it .. but I just gotta comment the most thought-provoking lines are the beginning of the second verse, as he speaks on something that could have been a mistake in the bible, or something MUCH more: "Yo, the holy script from Genesis 1-26 / says, "Let us make man in our image under our likeness" / First of all who's THEY? / You see if God was truly a single entity that's not what he would say!" The Track is an UNDENIABLE CLASSIC. "Let's Ride" is definetly the worst track on the album. Bis still spits lyrical flames, but a bad beat and horrible guest apperances by Wyclef and Pras plauge it. The beat has more of a Jamacian R&B-ish feel and is not the type for a battle track. Its like Bis originally recorded this over a hotter battle beat and Wyclef took that acapella and put it over this beat. Bis just doesnt do well over it, making the track awfully average. But he does over the next track, "Buckingham Palace". The track, originally titled "All Hail Canibus", features a simplistic beat, which normally would seem bad for a Bis song as it has earlier in the album, but its just PERFECT for Bis to ANNIHALATE, which is EXACTLY what he does. Lyric-wise, its one of his best battle songs ever, and definetly one of the best tracks on the album. If you aint never heard Bis, this is probably the perfect track to listen to first, check it: "...Canibus is the ultimate executioner's dream Swingin the guillotine, cause whenever the head is severed from the human body with a sharp enough weapon the brain remains conscious for ten seconds Long enough for me to give you one last message And when you get to Hell you can tell Lucifer I said it Don't ever get it confused, fuckin with Canibus the human Rubix Cube like you got somethin to prove Yo, whoever grabs the mic after me'll get booed Get everything in the club thrown at you and your crew From Moet bottles to bar stools, fruits and foods You got a album out, you get hit with your CD too Runnin outside, cryin, lyin, denyin that you ain't The Gay Rapper, but you got fucked by him What's the difference? Y'all niggaz still ain't in lyrical fitness Too busy mixin your bid'ness with your bitches While I be in the lab composin forbidden scriptures So wicked I got Satan ejaculatin' on his fingers Like Dirk Diggler in the middle of "Boogie Nights" Sniffin white, livin the hype, he ruined his life But I'm a emcee of a different type, yeah that's right Make sure your shit is tight, or I'ma snatch YOUR mic!" The album closes with the party/battle track "Rip Rock". When I first listened to it I thought it was one of the best tracks on the album because I was (and still am) A BIG fan of the Rap Rock genre, thats basically because the first thing similar to a Hip-Hop artist I liked was Kid Rock. Well anyway, the track is ok at best. If anything Clef should have chosen a different melody for the chorus line than such a dumb (but recognizable) melody. Though Clef's guitar work isnt really that good, Canibus' closing verses are in a word, amazing. This track is pretty good, though the sequal "Cant Stop The Shining (Rip Rock Part 2)" with Free, Pras, and Lenny Kravitz is kinda better. It makes me wonder if how his work with the Rap Rock group BlakMilc will be good or bad... Despite the average production, "Can-I-Bus" is still pretty dope. It is an awesome introduction to one of the greatest emcees in the game. The creativity and diveristy expressed on this album is just outstanding, not to mention the lyrical supremacy he holds over the game. If you are a fan of true lyricism, I would pick this up in a heartbeat.