Continuing his penchant for acidic battle rhymes, Canibus raps about selling his rivals' organs on one track on his second album, 2000 B.C., which leads the pack of rap releases due Tuesday (July
18).
2000 B.C. has more of the raw lyricism that helped him gain notoriety upon the release of Can-I-Bus? in 1998. That album featured "Second Round K.O." (RealAudio excerpt), on which Canibus dissed veteran rapper LL Cool J.
The song was part of a tit-for-tat rap war that also spawned the LL Cool J track "The Ripper Is Back." The LL Cool J song skewered Canibus producer Wyclef Jean as a Bob Marley impersonator, and Wyclef responded with "What's Clef." LL Cool J answered that with "Rasta Impasta."
Notable songs on 2000 B.C. (the B.C. stands for Before Can-I-Bus) include "The C-Quel" (RealAudio excerpt), which features two simultaneous Canibus rap tracks, and "Watch Who U Beef Wit" (RealAudio excerpt), the organ-selling number.
The album features guest appearances by such respected lyrists as Killah Priest of the Wu-Tang Clan, Kurupt and Ras Kass. Rakim shows up for "I'll Buss 'Em, U Punish 'Em."
Wyclef did not work on the album; he and Canibus (born Germaine Williams) parted ways after a creative spat. The rapper used producers Irv Gotti, DJ Clue and the Beatnuts for 2000 B.C.
"They got an ear for tracks," Canibus said in the spring. "They got an ear for the hard-hittin' neck-snappers, and that's what they gave to me."
Canibus, who was born in Jamaica, began in the music business as a manager for Queens, N.Y., rap group Lost Boyz.
Also Tuesday, the production team Hangmen 3 will release No Skits Vol. 1, which features rapping by a new five-man group called the Wiseguys. Rappers Tangg Da Juice, Big Roscoe, M3, Masta Criminal, and Mann Terror are all former gang members, according to Interscope Records. As the title hints, the album is free of chatty interludes. The first single is "Holla Back (Holla Boston)."
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