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Now you've been in England for a little while-What's going on over there?
Well right now I'm just over here working on new material trying to keep it moving ya know? The way I record is I do a lot of records and then when I feel I have an album worth of material, I figure out some concepts I wanna do and put it together like that. I've been working with a lot of MC's over here. I’ve worked with two MC's who are looked at like the French Nas and the French Kool G Rap.
How would you compare hip-hop overseas to hip-hop in the states?
Well hip-hop in the States is like ten years ahead of hip hop overseas, but fans in the States are almost trapped in a bubble because they don’t really listen to much else outside of the States. But cats overseas listen to hip-hop in the States and their own hip hop music they make. The people have shown me a lot of love over here in Sweden, Ireland, and Dublin.
Now is this your own label that your new album is being released on?
Well rather than call it that, I'll just say that I have more creative control than before. It's not my own label but I sit on the board and can do what I wanna do and make decisions. I’m the foundation of the label.
Being independent, do you still have the access to work with a lot of industry people or artists?
Yeah, I’m still in the network and have access to work with other artists. Wendy Day can still advise me and my attorney is great. He actually represents the top five artists back in the States.
Tell us about the drama you’ve experienced throughout your career and how you got to this point.
Well I don’t really want to dwell in the past because that really won't help me much. But in general, I would say the LL Battle was highly overrated and it is the reason I was grossly misunderstood by the public. If you take a close look at hip-hop now, everybody is beefing and it's very healthy for hip-hop as long as it stays on record. You should be able to express your opinion about anybody and not have to go through any red tape. Anyway, after leaving Universal, I moved out to California and recorded 20 tracks for an album called "Talk About It" which was supposed to be my third release. I also recorded about 16 tracks for the horseman album which has yet to be released. I met some MC's like C-4 and Pakman that are on the album and hooked up with Louie Lombard and he introduced me to Stan.
Now what is up with Stan? Can you tell us about the ad in the Source.
Well Stan is a real person. He is a living breathing Mc who wanted to get on and I’m gonna help him. He was thinking about changing his name but we decided to go with that one cause everyone knows it.
Is this the real dude Eminem was writing about or did he just adapt the name?
Well it is a real catchy name. You can rhyme it with anything. But basically I’m just putting him on and giving him a chance to vocalize how he feels.
So you are not Stan?
No I couldn’t be Stan. I’m the Canibus man (laughs). I’m Germaine Williams P.K.A Canibus A.K.A Rip the Jacker. That's me. I just got with Stan, C-4, and Pakman and featured them on C True Hollywood Stories Volume I.
Now with the subtle disses to Em on this CD, did you have a verse dissing Eminem on the song "F-YOU" off your last album?
You know I’ve heard people talking about that but I wouldn’t say that it was about Eminem. Everytime people hear me rhyme they analyze my lyrics to death. But as far as Eminem, let me say this- I got a mutual respect for Eminem because between his rhyming content and delivery, I think he's tight and that goes with out saying. He's got the total package and has proven himself in the arena of selling records. So for the record I do wanna say that he is tight without a shadow of a doubt. If you ask Em about me he will say the same thing about me. As far as our careers it's just that he ran off with Dre when he got in the game and I ran off with Clef you know? If the tables were turned then maybe things would have been different also.
Do you think people will take your ad in the Source as a diss to Eminem? I mean a lot of people just don’t know how to take it.
It was meant to be that way. It is just as deceptive as a lyric that Eminem used my name in back when he came out: ("I’m hazardous so when I diss you wouldn’t wanna answer this unless you responded back with a battle rap you wrote for Canibus"). People didnt know how to take that and I didn’t either. But ultimately I was like "Fuck It" because I cant run around trying to monitor everyone that mentions my name. So that is the way the ad is designed to be. You can’t really put a finger on it because I have no real reason to diss Eminem. But you have to understand that it's Stan spitting. He's got the right to write a letter to his man expressing his feelings. Besides that, it's all hip-hop anyway. Everything I do is in the name of hip-hop. When Jay comes out and shits on Nas, somebody who we all love or loved at one time, it's hip hop. Now it seems because of Jay's song, people have been going up and down their feelings toward Nas. I still think Nas is tight but everybody is against him. But what's crazy man is that when I dropped 2nd round KO shitting on L, ultimately I caught a lashing from the public (laughs). But I feel helped open the gate back up in ‘98 with that song for niggaz to release them type of tracks saying what they wanna say about whoever. But people shouldn’t get to caught up in the Source ad that much because the most important part about it is seeing my name at the bottom of it and knowing that I’m back.
What was up with the "Rip The Jacker" song dissing LL?
Well that song is not even on my album. Rip the Jacker is my alias so That’s the person who did that track. But it wasn’t something I wanted to put on the album. It was just something that I did for the "G.O.A.T." to let him know that everybody don’t think he's the GOAT. I think he's the GLOAT (Greatest Liar of All Time). I mean you read XXL or the Source and some people will call 2PAC the GOAT or Kool G Rap the GOAT and that's how it's supposed to be. You let the people decide who the GOAT is. Ain’t no rapper supposed to be running around calling themselves the GOAT- get the Fuck outta here. I do what I do in defense of hip-hop. I just did the song and put it on MP3.com and it just spread through the whole industry. People started pressing it up on white labels and what not and it spread. But it's just hip hop-I mean it's nothing worse than the songs he did about me. The consensusin the street is that Jay shit on Nas with "The Takeover" and the song is crazy. But people accepted the song and kept it moving. But when I released 2nd round KO shitting on LL, I caught a raw deal about it. But it's all just hip-hop.
So what's next for Canibus?
I’m just working hard man. I’m doing guest appearances with artists I feel like that. I just did something with MOP and Kool G Rap. But a lot of times the singles or appearances I do never really get pushed so that's why I stay grinding. I have word of mouth and the internet but I’m not really on TV at all. People are still eager to hear me though. There’s a dope site on the net called "Canibus-Central.com" that my man Punisher designed and that’s bananas. It's really flattering that kids would do something like that for me and it's a dope site. But I live for hip-hop. It's my life and I’ve been able to live off of it so I’m gonna always do hip-hop.
Will you be touring?
Well I would like to tour on big venues but right now I just focus on rocking at the venues that hold like 1500 to 2000 so I can feel the crowd. I’ve toured with Clef on the Smoking Grooves tour and that was huge and a really good experience. Hopefully one day I can do that again, because I know my name is still huge with my crowd and people always remember it. My name got a reserved parking space in people’s brain because I made my mark in hip-hop.
Do you feel you’ve made any mistakes in your career?
I feel that I’ve made tons of mistakes. But making mistakes isn’t the hard part because that's easy to do. It's how you correct mistakes that count. I don’t feel that I’ve made any mistakes that aren’t reconcilable. I feel that the same courtesies that have been extended to big dogs such as DMX, Nas, and Jay-z should be extended to an MC like myself. If anyone of us were to pass we would all be mourned by the hip-hop community. So while were here we all should get that respect. It's crazy because only after Big L passed is when I saw his face more, heard his music more, and felt his presence more. It's messed up, but that’s the way the industry is man. But I do feel that I’ve helped pave the way for alot emcees that came after me and really get busy ya know? I came out stressing that no matter how much money and plaques you have, you cant be coming out with no wack nursery rhymes-you gotta get in that lab and write.
Now how do you feel about lyricists such as yourself, and Chino XL that don’t get treated with the same amount of respect as a Jay Z or DMX in terms of airplay, promotion, etc.?
All I can say is that the race is not for the swift. The race is for those who endure. The game is not really even about being a lyricist no more like it once was, but the bottom line is that MC's like myself have to continue to grind, endure and sacrifice to get our respect. Look at Chino-there was a time after his first album came out where he really wasn’t out for a minute. But he continued to endure, kept grinding, and now he's back. Now, I’m learning more about the game and I’m more of a businessman so I’m trying to get some paper too.
What is the situation with Beanie Sigel, the Roc and you. Beef?
Honestly I dont even know what Beanie really meant by that lyric ("...I'll rock you Bells like L, I ain’t Canibus nigga"). I mean I took it everyway it can possibly be taken. I figure he thinks since life is gravy for him cause he's on the ROC, he just don’t have a care in the world and can just say anything on record. Everybody has the right to say what they want on record but you should have a reason. I mean I felt Beans and I still think he gets busy...But as far as rhyme for rhyme, seeing me? If any one of these monkey-faced rappers wanna get it on with me just name the date and place. Don’t just talk on record. If you wanna meet a real MC lets do it. I'll have Wendy Day set up a televised battle co-sponsored by Allhiphop.com and we can go rhyme for rhyme if he wanna put his belt on the line. This cat always talking about he'll spit a thousand bars, but I haven’t even heard him kick one hundred bars yet you know? You gotta come with it. I mean he roasted Jadakiss but he could never do that to me. Never.
What's up with the 4 Horseman project?
Well I’m only 1/4 of the group so it's just a matter of us all coming together, setting it up and dropping it. Everyone has been busy with their individual projects but it's gonna happen real soon. While I’ve been overseas, I’ve been recruiting for the International Horseman Syndicate and that will consist of the illest MC's from France, Germany, and the UK. I’m also going to set up some tryouts in Japan and Sweden.
Any last words?
I’m always gonna be here because hip-hop is in my heart. I’m an independent vessel trying to
keep it moving and keep it innovative. You have to stay creative because you can’t just come out the same way every time. I’m gonna keep it innovative every time whether it risks someone liking the material or not. I do what I do for the sake of the art. All MC's have to be chemists of some sort and experiment with different things to keep the art form going. I’m definitely more of a business man now and I realize that for the type of MC I am, I need to have a mechanism or machine (label) that is solely dedicated to me and not several artists. I don’t need to be on a label where if I don’t win, they wont sweat it because they have so many other artists. I think all real MC's need that to succeed-not only to succeed but to survive.
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