Believe it or not, I’m known for more than just my preference in Jordans. I like to pride myself in being able to see a rising star coming a mile away then bragging to my friends about how I was playing Rapper A’s music before he hit the mainstream. It’s that snobbery that made me want to write for TSS so that I could say “I told you so” to thousands of people instead of just my circle of friends. Read the rest of this entry »

Graphic by Talia

If you haven’t heard, MC Hammer is angry at Jay-Z for doing something truly heinous: dropping a few lines about Hammer’s bankruptcy. Apparently, mentioning a real-life event that happened 20 years ago is cause for aggression and exercise videos. Some say Hammer overreacted. Others don’t care. Read the rest of this entry »

Someone tell me this is a bad joke. Please.

After I got past the giggles of being told “Canibus has a new album out”, I sought it out on the interwebs and went from playfully surprised to somewhat sad and concerned in three stages.

Stage 1: That Cover

Remember when the DeLorean was considered a futuristic car and Casio calculator watches were popping? Before Photoshop, before Corel. When all you needed for a cover was a Polaroid of you and your DJ posted up in matching outfits against a brick wall with graffiti on it. Add some cut out letters spelling out the title of your album. Xerox. Done. This cover is from the day after that, courtesy of the first guy to purchase a PC and mastered the high-tech art of MS Paint Version 0.01 Beta. If Canibus has homies and they nodded like “Yo, that shit right there is fire son! Word!”, then they’re probably Gotty’s™ age and/or thoroughly doped out on pain killers, cat pee and unleaded petrol.

Stage 2: The Title

Seriously son. Really? “Melatonin Magik.” That sounds like some nuclear grade dishwashing liquid, but definitely not something I’d willingly confess to having heard. Note to whoever the managing/A&R person may be: packaging is supposed to be appetizing. Or at least palpable. If I were a Canibus fan, I’d shoplift the CD and send an anonymous donation to Best Buy for the value plus tax. That way I don’t have to end up with the cover or have “Canibus Melatonin Magik” on my credit card statement. The wife will think I’m back on drugs or worse, a Canibus fan.

Stage 3: The Tracklisting

Oh, what, you thought you were going to get the wrapper and no candy? Maybe it’s just me, but after seeing the cover and then going through this list, I wanted to find a charity for whatever infliction your boy ‘Bis has.

Apparently, it’s known as PTWS, Post-Traumatic Warlab Stress. Or Track 6 on Melatonin Magik. Either way, I lost all interest in listening to this album and have resolved to join the crowd in ignoring that it even exists.

Melatonin Magik, in stores now.

R.I.P. Big Punisher. Read the rest of this entry »

Tammy Torres, Throw It In The Bag

Understanding Lazy Eye, Other Parts of Kristen Bell [Cracked]

Women Who Make You Slowly Remove Your Finger From the Remote [TBL]

Court Considers Juvenile Life Sentences [AOL]

Let’s Bail Out the Pot Dealers [Time]

Canibus Flips Out On Invasion Radio And Refuses To Freestyle [Vlad TV] Read the rest of this entry »

After the success of Slaughterhouse, established acts have seen since been forming like Voltron; teaming up to hopefully swap fan bases. Two of the most recent wordsmiths to create an alliance include The Undergods, which is the combined force of Canibus and Keith Murray. Read the rest of this entry »

No more cries from the bell tower screaming “The Undergods are coming!” The EP is here.

One last freebie to coerce you out of $5.99 should do the trick. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a Crooked I stan like I am, today is a good day. Because we’ve been blessed 36 new broken bottle bars from the 213′s illest emcee. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t really tell where this duo’s content is going to fit into today’s current music landscape. Read the rest of this entry »

There was a time when if you placed the names “Keith Murray” and “Canibus” together on a song, fans would salivate. I know this isn’t that time but I’m not even sure how this duo, calling themselves The Under Gods, would fair in the best of times. Read the rest of this entry »

I think this album was when I really began and stopped listening to the Lost Boyz. I fault Canibus’ onslaught on “Beasts From The East,” because as a general rule of thumb your album should not contain another lyricist’s magnum opus.

As a matter of fact, it’s safe to say that situations just like this were at the helm of the demise of the Hip-Hop group as we knew it. “Beasts From The East” encompasses all the major factors attributed to that downfall: the rise of the solo star, the possibility of large collaborations and the lack of financial viability.

While the disintegration process as we know it was somewhat systemic, it’s hard to say what happened first.

Was it the egos that got in the way when the lead MC began getting solo fame?

Was it the decline in the sales of group efforts? Read the rest of this entry »

The first time I saw that pic, I heard Canibus’ raspy voice go:

“….I’m the deadly delicatessen/ It takes me 30 minutes to eat ‘em, 40 minutes to digest ‘em,/ and 50 minutes for it to pass through my intestines.”

Suddenly it made sense why he and Mike Tyson were friends. Read the rest of this entry »

…but lost the war.

How does this type of shit happen? After ten years, the question still causes widespread puzzlement across the Hip-Hop community. 

Dude had it. 

The flow, the gruff, battle-tested vocals.  The skills to “eat a nigga’s ass…” (his words, not mine).  As far as rookies go in ’98, he was 2nd only to Pun in the art of lyrical massacre, only to take that “two” and use it to become the next Sam Bowie.

Even LL had to acknowledge the predicament ‘Bus had put him in: You came up with that bullshit/some heads sucked it up/then dropped that garbage album/and totally fucked up… he spit on the 2000′s “Back Where I Belong.”  For the uniformed it basically happened liked this: LL asked Canibus to be on “4,3,2,1″ but took an line about borrowing his tattoo as disrespect and changed his verse to a subliminal diss. Canibus change the line but LL kept his jab on the record and from then it was on… Read the rest of this entry »

This definitely goes without saying but in terms of posse cuts:

1998>2008

You can front all you want but all these “hood anthems” we’re being bombarded with nowadays are straight up garbage, and forgettable. Does anyone remember Webbie was on the remix to “Speedin???” Who had your favorite verse on “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)???” And why is that we refer ever new Khaled collabo as “I’m So Hood Part ____???” The usual suspects of the era still managed to be everywhere there was a studio, but in terms of actually making an impact, the difference is vast. In this day and age, all these dudes are concerned with is cashing a check. And you can tell because that’s all their regurgitated rhymes entail.

While the days of MC’s battling on tracks for bragging rights may be an afterthought at the moment, the legacy is not. Backtrack for a few minutes with these collaborative efforts that’ll guarantee to cause chronic neck spasms when you relive them. Read the rest of this entry »

Words By David D.

Man, what about those Davidson Wildcats?

Yes, I’m a student and damn proud. But even if I weren’t attending Davidson, I’d have been rooting for the ‘Cats.

Why?

Like most people, I like the underdog. I always want the scrappy fighter to pull out with the win. Interestingly enough, this same desire applies to my interest in certain Hip-Hop artists. At one point, the biggest underdog I ever wanted to win was Canibus.

The man came out and challenged an LL who was at an all-time high of annoyance. His lip-licking, “something like a phenomenon,” antics were begging for someone to throw rocks at the throne. Canibus was that guy. Read the rest of this entry »