BROOLYN, NY — 18 years after their celebrated feud, LL Cool and Canibus are back on the same page. Last night at the Barclays Center, LL was performing a special concert organized by pioneering NYC station WBLS. During his set, LL brought out Canibus recite their verses off the classic 1996 track “4,3,2,1.”
Fans will recall that Canibus’ line in that song about wanting to “borrow” LL’s tattoo mic off started their rivalry. LL took it as a shot and asked Canibus to change his verse. In the meantime, LL recorded a whole new verse aimed at Canibus. The original Canibus verse leaked, and fans put 2 and 2 together regarding the brewing beef. Canibus would make the beef public with “2nd Round KO,” sparking several more records from both going as late as 2000.
While it would’ve been amazing to hear what these two could have cooked up together if these issues were squashed anytime between ’97-’00, their current incarnations might still bless us with a dope collaboration.
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Over on Rap Radar, Bdot wondered if this was the first time two emcees squashed a beef and still performed verses together that were going at each other. Nope — the below footage is from a KRS show I attended some years back with MC Shan happily reciting “South Bronx” right along with the Blastmaster.
I wouldn’t hold my breath to see Jay and Nas trading “Takeover” and “Ether” lines, though.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 