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Did anyone take notice of the very public feud between rapper Canibus and LL Cool J that went on in ‘98? Apparently the two had some sort of disagreement, and LL tried to dismiss Mr. Williams by rapping about it on a song they both made guest appearances on. Canibus immediately shot back on his “Second Round KO" track from his “Can-I-Bus" debut: “…and if you really wanna show off, we can get it on, live, in front of the cameras on your own sit-com. I’ll let you kick a verse. F*** it, I’ll let you kick ‘em all. I’ll even wait for the studio audience to applaud. Now watch me rip the tat from you’re arm (LL Cool J, and Canibus both have microphones permanently embossed on their biceps.), kick you in the groin, stick you for your Vanguard award. In front of your mom, your first, second, and third born, make your wife get on the horn—call Minister Farakhan. So he can persuade me to squash it. ‘I say ‘nah, he started it’…" Canibus is usually bragging on his two cd’s about how much of a badder MC he is than literally anyone else. Which, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Kool Keith notwithstanding, is fairly possible. “I never said that battlin’ me would be impossible. I just think it’s highly mothefu**in’ improbable." There were many moments, where I ran the cd back, again and again and think… ‘Did he really say that?’ That never happens to me anymore. Is the fact that half of the stuff I listen to is a bore and a chore evidence that I’m becoming somewhat jaded? Canibus seems to feel the same way: “Now for the last couple of months things been real quiet, cuz I ain’t heard sh** worth buyin." I guess I’m not the only one who’s tired of how predictable popular music has become. “Same sh**, different laxative." With conviction and belief to spare, Canibus dispenses with the tired ‘Oh, really, I hate fame" trappings evident in truly stupid ‘flavors of the month’, like Modest Mouse. Rather than bumming the whole planet out with some weepy proverb about what a rank human being he is, he instead chooses to toot his own horn (something that was a Day In The Office in the hip-hop of old, and is one of the few early standards that never gets tiresome, or seems out-of-step--unlike his misogyny and homophobia). If you’re an up and coming ‘indie star’ (an oxymoron?) you don’t talk about “urinating rocket fuel". No. You instead discuss the merits of, maybe, self-immolation. Over a hooky chorus, so the world can share your pathos, and hum it in line at Burger King. Cameos by Killah Priest (a peripheral member of the Wu-Tang Clan), Rakim, Journalist, Kurupt, and Rass Kass, this follow-up only let me down by being over. The guests of honor really just add slivers of mic skills to the cd. Canibus shines throughout. His debut “Can-I-bus" was great, and, in spite of some of his very ‘1955’ opinions (which are fairly atypical of hip-hop, unfortunately), this is even better. |
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