Canibus Interviews on Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” Podcast.
Celebrating a LEGEND!
Hip Hop legend and lyrical genius Canibus stopped by battle rapper Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” podcast show April 22, around a group of fellow hip hop guys to discuss many topics about his rap career, the decisions he made that effected his career, and his thoughts of those decisions.
The MC, which many also know by his nickname “Can-I-Bus” (because of his lyrical ability to rhyme with wit and genius) stopped by the show and discussed various topics with the crew that included his infamous battles with two of Hip Hop’s legendary “GOATs” (Greatest Of All Time) and superstar rapper/actors LL Cool J and Eminem.
He also discussed topics including The Notorious B.I.G., his issues with superstar rapper and his label executive Wyclef, joining the army, his regrets and lots more.
Canibus has had one of the most controversial music careers, being coveted as a talented lyrical genius that many dubbed to have a great legendary career when he first hit the hip hop scene in 1998.
No hip hop historian can forget the infamous cypher with Mos Def, Noreaga, DMX, Big Pun, and Canibus that took place at a local New York City lounge that displayed some of the best hip hop rhymers of their generation.
He then catapulted to hip hop’s top artists list with great lyrical verses on the underground market before getting his chance to showcase his ability on LL Cool J’s “4,3,2,1” record which included an all star hip hop line up with artists such as Method Man, DMX, Redman and Master P.
Canibus began to see the start of his controversy during that process as he and LL Cool J seemed to clash over the fact that Canibus had decided to emulate a tattoo of a mic on his arm that he had seen originally on LL Cool J’s arm first.
The two artists give different connotations as to why the feud took place, but it ultimately led to a full on hip hop battle that millions of fans in the world would bare witness to, as each MC released multiple disses aimed at each other, which started with both of them on the same song of “4,3,2,1.”
Canibus released a diss record shortly after titled “Second Round K.O.” where he accuses LL Cool J of being a fraud artist, being on drugs, anointing The Notorious B.I.G. as the “Greates Rapper of All Time” and not LL, and many other things. He also helped his case by having Mike Tyson, the most popular superstar and most feared boxer in the world show up on his song and in the video.
The song did significant damage to LL Cool J’s reputation immediately, as many fans and critics dawned Canibus’ diss as a lyrical slaughter and instant classic diss track (one of the greatest diss records ever), and would promptly force LL to have to respond after he seemed to get the best of Canibus on “4,3,2,1”
LL Cool J again topped Canibus for a second time as he released one of his most infamous diss records ever with “The Ripper Strikes Back” which LL states that Canibus is a fan, the fact that he isn’t marketable, his lack of fans by saying “99% of your fans don’t exist”, and clowning him for being a street phony."
The song got great reception from the hip hop community as many were surprised with LL Cool J’s ability to strike back not once but twice at one of Hip Hop’s supreme lyricists at the time. It also struck a massive blow to Canibus’ early career before it officially even started.
Canibus released his debut album “Can-I-Bus” shortly after, selling over 500, 000 copies in total but was met with poor critical acclaim. He then began to fade away into a career of ups and downs, which saw him take aim at his then producer Wyclef for it’s poor commercial success.
After more production by heavyweight producers and A&R’s such as Ty Fyffe, Irv Gotti and more, Canibus released his 2nd career album “2000 B.C”. The album got better reception from critics but was ultimately labeled another failed attempt by the general public and critics as well. Canibus saw his window of success cut short by what would be his next battle with then newcomer and now hip hop superstar and legend Eminem and all of his success.
Eminem’s rise to stardom took a lot of attention from Canibus’ career and the two began to have issues with each other that many did not know where the feud came from.
Canibus states in the “My Expert Opinion” podcast interview that a conversion took place between the two where Eminem stated his intentions to work with “Bus” at his “I Honor You” video shoot.
Canibus, already being under pressure to shoot a certain scene for the video, while also hearing that Eminem helped co-write LL Cool J’s “The Ripper Strikes Back” by a trusted source of his (which he later found out was not true) was not pleasant with Em and expressed his feelings about it.
That conversation led to a destroyed opportunity for the two to work together on Canibus’ “2000 B.C” album for the song “Phuk U” and also led to Eminem writing one of his biggest records to date, “Stan”, which he is subliminally dissing Canibus through the lyrics on the song. In the song, Eminem is accusing Stan of being an overzealous fan and being upset for not responding to letters he wrote.
Canibus says he knows for certain that those lyrics in the song were aimed at him and Eminem references these claims in his actual diss to Canibus titled “Canibitch” which he addresses the issue further and more in depth.
He states that Canibus actually wrote him several letters saying that he thought Em was a dope MC and wanted to work with him in the first letter, to literally threatening to blow up a building that Eminem was in with his last letter.
Canibus responded to Eminem’s “Stan” diss by making one of his own titled “U Didn’t Care” on his third album “C True Hollywood Stories.”
In the song, he responds to Eminem’s claims and tries to clear the air on what his intentions were with the letters and, in the very record, tries to address what he wants to do moving forward, while also staying in a creative artist lane with the song.
Eminem, being signed to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment and Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope Records had a bigger backing behind him and clearly won the battle between the two in the public.
Canibus states that he wishes he could have handled things differently and did not know how to deal with the issue at the time, due to the pressure of the situation between he and LL and he and Eminem.
After looking back at it, Canibus’ career is one to celebrate. He released two solid albums, those being his debut and second album “Canibus” and “2000 B.C.”
He took on two of Hip Hop’s heavyweight giants, legends and GOATs. He delivered hard blows, classic diss tracks and responses and is still considered by many to be one of hip hop’s greatest lyricist of all time.
Canibus asked in the interview why cant people just appreciate two artists for going at each other and appreciating both artists for their efforts and not just one? Well we are appreciating both artists for their efforts and we appreciate Canibus for his career as a contributing MC to hip hop culture.
Check out Canibus on “My Expert Opinion.” and follow him on Instagram @canibusverified.