Germaine Williams a.k.a. Canibus (aka Can-I-Bus) was born in 1974 in
Jamaica to Basil and Elaine Williams. Growing up, Canibus found
interest in beat boxing and break dancing. After his parents divorced, Canibus
and his mother immigrated to the U.S. before his teen years and moved around
frequently due to his mother's work.
Before he was eighteen he had lived in Brooklyn, Washington D.C., Miami, England
(where his mother was originally from), Atlanta, Georgia, and eventually New Jersey.
Though Canibus dabbled with several jobs and interests, his main pursuit in
life was rapping. During his days as a kid in the Bronx, Bis (another
alias) evolved through various elements of Hip Hop and eventually began
making his mark in the New York City rap scene. Canibus'
biggest claim to fame arose when LL Cool J invited him to do a guest spot on
LL's new single "3, 2, 1". During the recording session Canibus began
admiring a tattoo of a microphone on LL's arm. He asked if Mr. Smith
would mind if he got a mike tatted on his arm. LL joked about it, saying
that Canibus should only get a mike tattoo if he truly felt he was
worthy. When Canibus stepped into the booth to record his verse for the
song he included a few lines before he began to rap, shouting out each
of the other artists in the song; when he reach LL he shouted out, "LL,
is that a mike on your arm? Let me borrow that!" LL took
that as a diss although Canibus insisted that the line was meant as a compliment,
LL went in the booth and recorded an entire verse directed at Canibus without
actually naming him. Canibus has stated that LL asked him to remove the line about
the microphone and Canibus did so, believing LL would remove the attack on Canibus
but LL did not do that. Eventually the original version of the song, with
Canibus' line about the microphone, leaked and so it was revealed that Canibus
was the one LL was attacking in his verse. Canibus became convinced he had to
respond as a matter of self-respect. He attacked back with a song called
"Second Round Knockout". With a little help from Mike Tyson (who
laid spoken background vocals to hype up the song) the song was released
and was met with great praise and fanfare. This ignited a Hip Hop feud involving
Canibus, LL Cool J, Wyclef, and various other individuals who
wanted in on the action. Though Canibus' first hit was accepted, the
overall lyrical war between LL Cool J and Canibus was won by the
veteran LL. Canibus focused on recording his first album, 1998's "Can-I-Bus,"
which was met with very poor reviews.
While underground Hip Hop fans embraced Canibus' albums the mainstream
entertainment world did not. Still, Canibus was credited with being one of the
best lyrical freestyle rappers and had few equals in that area of rapping.
In fact many rap magazines said the only rapper that could
compete with Canibus in a freestyle battle was Eminem. Before Eminem made it
big, he was a fan of Canibus, but after a false rumor caused Canibus to accuse
Eminem of writing one of LL's diss tracks against him, the two exchanged low-key swipes
at each other. Canibus dissed Eminem outright on his 2001 underground album
"C True Hollywood Stories," which included songs featuring
Stan, the obsessed-fan character created by Eminem in 2000.
Eminem responded on his 2002 album "The Eminem Show," warning Canibus
not to start a beef with him. Although the rappers went on to diss each other again,
the feud died down without incident.
Canibus enlisted in the Army in 2002 and served in Iraq. His most critically acclaimed
album, 2003's "Rip the Jacker," was released from prerecorded material.
After his discharge in 2004, he went on to record many more albums, and has amassed a
considerable cult following. His most recent album, "Time Flys, Life Dies, Phoenix Rise"
was released in 2015.
