Critic’s Pick: Canibus – Rip The Jacker
“In the beginning I discovered wordplay. I experimented with some syllables from the first to the third day. On the fourth I searched for the words to say – how to compress complex verbiage in the least amount of space. I was perfect at it – I mastered the tactics. On the fifth day I decided that I would combine it with mathematics. On the sixth day I became a fanatic, and I couldn’t kick the habit. I would just look in the mirror and practice. On the seventh cycle? I had to take the day off. I was exhausted, I guessed my work would never pay off. But if it happened to Him, it could happen to me. And if it happens to me it was destined to be.”
If the true art of rap is a quest for a logical proof that the emcee is a God, Germaine “Canibus” Williams has come closer than any artist in history. On several occasions.
Rip The Jacker is a surreal, sometimes whimsical display of lyrical aptitude laid over beats drawn from an eclectic collection of western-hemisphere influences.
Seemingly, the entire purpose of the album is for Canibus to prove that he is a divine entity. His other work seems to tip-toe around his obsession – but in Rip the Jacker he seems liberated to take it on full-bore. But here’s the thing – when he’s rapping about the things that really are dear to him – the countless hours of practice, the philosophers he tries to emulate, the purpose of hip hop, why he failed so miserably and why we are no more likely to succeed – we actually learn something about the man. In Rip the Jacker, Canibus combines his unheard-of talent with the kind of introspective lyricism that can only come from a man who has seen all of his dreams fall to pieces.
Like so many rappers, he is better when he has nothing. It is too bad that the world first heard Canibus after Wyclef Jean told him that he could have everything.
By the time he released his masterpiece Rip the Jacker, Canibus’ career had already fizzled.
His first album, Can-I-Bus, was one of the most anticipated rap releases of the era. Williams was produced by Wyclef Jean in his heyday and was an underground legend for his unheard-of freestyle talent. But backing up those stratospheric expectations with a reggae producer and his first-ever mandate to be “radio friendly” was too tall a task for Canibus.
It’s not that the album was terrible, indeed, his flashes of brilliance amidst the piss-poor production, sloppy beats and comically bad guest rappers left him with a strong underground following that is loyal to this day. Still, Can-I-Bus was no hit – the album floundered on the Billboard charts and left him exposed to a frontal assault from media darling LL Cool J (with whom he had been feuding over a stolen tattoo).
His follow-up 2000 B.C. (Before Can-I-Bus) was better, but not good enough – it’s poor sales numbers got him dropped from Universal Records.
Then came C: True Hollywood Stories, where his feud with Eminem began. Remember that Eminem line, “two trailer park girls go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside?” He was actually mocking a Canibus line from this very album.”Canibus is coming for ya’ll ’round the outside, ’round the outside, ’round the outside.”
Here’s what The Onion’s A.V. Club said about his third album C : True Hollywood Stories –
“Next-big-thing turned hip-hop footnote Canibus leaped into the post-9/11 xenophobic fray with the noxious macho fantasy “Draft Me.” With sophisticated lyrics like “Draft me! I wanna fight for my country / Jump in a Humvee and murder those monkeys!” the song instantly hurled itself into a time capsule of kitsch. At least Canibus proved a man of his word: Denied the compulsory draft he so richly desired, he enrolled in the Army, only to be kicked out for smoking cannabis. How appropriate.”
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