Viewing Posts Tagged "canibus" View All
All of you gave pretty decent feedback about #5 on my Lowered Expectations lists, Fabolous. I think #4 is someone who we'll all agree on: Germaine Williams, b.k.a. Canibus.

The Potential: As a commenter said, Canibus was lined up to be the next Rakim. Somewhat similar to Lowered Expectations Entry #5, he earned his rep by way of battles, mixtape appearances and radio freestyles. Off the bat, this cat jumped on collaborations with heavy-hitters just to prove he was hard: Heltah Skeltah, Rass Kass, Common. He hopped on "4, 3, 2, 1" and outshined Method Man, Redman and LL Cool J, made the latter catch feelings. Then, in one of the best battle songs of all time, slaughtered him so bad that LL dissed him again years later for no reason. Also, like many of the others that will be on this list, he's such a premier, unmistakable talent: his metaphor game is amongst the best of all time, and his scowling, ferocious delivery is the embodiment of hip-hop. Canibus had the talent, all of the necessary cosigns, and the backing of a timeframe in Hip Hop that was ideal for his success.
The Disappointment: Unfortunately, Canibus made a series of misguided moves, and didn't show enough artistic depth to become a legend. His debut, Can-I-Bus, paired his harsh rhymes with the eclectic stylings of Wyclef Jean, and from that point, his albums have varied between repetitive battle raps and experimental misses. Flashes of brilliance like he showed on the album Rip The Jacker, which paired his rhymes with equally cavernous beats by Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, make things particularly frustrating. He's got a fantastic verse on Royce Da 5'9"s new mixtape, Bar Exam 2, but I've lost hope on the homie. I won't call his career mothafuckin' Wyclef spoiled it, but I can call it Lowered Expections Entry #4.
P.S.: To everyone who says IGN.com had a similar list, can someone please post the link in the comments? I'm not a biter; I'm a writer, for myself, and others. I don't fuck with IGN at all, but I'd stiill like to see this other list that people are talking about. EDIT: Good looks to whoever left the link. I haven't owned a video game system myself since a nigga scammed me on eBay for a PS2 that looked like somebody got bodied for it, and even now, all I do is play NBA 2K8 on my homies' XBox 360 and PS3, so I don't have any reason to visit that site. But as Nas said, and as I learned during my beef with Soul Brother #2, no idea's original. And when y'all see my Top 3 (or at least my Top 2), y'all are gonna flip.