Canibus‘ 1998 diss track to LL COOL J, “Second Round K.O.,” is full of scathing bars, but it also includes what many in today’s rap game would deem a suspect bar.
“Well, lemme tell you somethin’, you might got more cash than me/ But you ain’t got the skills to eat a n-gga’s ass like me!” Canibus raps on the Jerry Duplessis and Wyclef Jean-produced track — which also includes a feature from legendary boxer Mike Tyson.
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During a recent appearance on Outside With Gorilla NEMS, the veteran MC finally addressed the pause-worthy line. After the host jokingly introduced Canibus with the line, he explained that it simply comes from a different time.
“Hey, that’s not what it meant back then!” he said while laughing. “That’s how old we are. What it is now is you see that type of stuff in the comments section on a website and you can’t do anything about it. I look at it and I’m like, ‘Why did I say that?’ because of how it is. But I know why I said it back then. The comment section is just…yellow tape.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, he also recalled a hilarious story where he asked to borrow one of LL’s chains when they reunited at the Barclays Center in 2014.
“You remember the Barclays? I came out to the Barclays to perform with him, right,” Canibus began. “Hoodie jawn on and I’m sitting there and this n-gga got so much gold on him. I’m like, ‘Yo, you know what? I can’t go out there with you. I need one of them ropes.’ So nicely, I asked him. I said, ‘Yo I got an idea.'”
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He continued: “We staring down. He staring up at me and I’m telling you what I’m saying in my mind. Basically it’s like, ‘Aw, here we go again.’ And he looked at me. I could see the whites of his eyes off the makeup on his cheek. That’s how I could see he was staring straight at me.”
“And I was looking at him like he could read my mind, ‘If you don’t give me that chain!’ That’s what I was thinking. He said, ‘Yo, get Canibus the baby rope!’ That’s why y’all seen me come out with the baby rope!”
Check out the full interview below:
LL COOL J wasn’t Canibus’ only beef in the rap game, as he also infamously beefed with Eminem (among others). In 2019, Em revisited the beef on “Bang” with Conway The Machine.
“That was back when I smoked Canibus/ Man, but it was tough, ’cause I was a fan of his/ So it sucked to hand him his ass, but/ Yeah, lookin’ back on my feuds/ How me and Ja Rule almost got cool/ ’Cause we shot pool back in ’01/ Was it ’02? I don’t know, but/ Something told me fuckin’ not to.”
Shady and Canibus’ layered feud kicked off in 1998 after Bis refused to collaborate with Em, thinking he’d ghostwritten LL COOL J’s Canibus diss, “The Ripper Strikes Back.”
Canibus later targeted Shady with 2001’s “U Didn’t Care” and Em responded with five songs on The Eminem Show dissing his rival, including “Square Dance” and “Without Me.”
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In 2012, Canibus challenged Em to a rap battle and dissed battle rapper Dizaster on a track entitled “Hip Hop Top Brass.” Canibus then battled Dizaster but failed to remember his raps. Subsequently, he conceded the battle and was booed off stage after reciting rhymes from his notebook.
