Canibus Clarifies Suspect Line On LL Cool J Diss "Second Round K.O."

BYGabriel Bras Nevares3.0K Views
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Canibus explained that things didn't mean the same thing back in the day that they do now, which doesn't make his line any less funny.

Canibus recently cleared the air surrounding a suspect line he spit on the 1998 LL Cool J diss, "Second Round K.O." Moreover, it's a well-constructed and often vicious dig at the New York legend, but many rap fans know it today for an eyebrow-raising line. "Well, lemme tell you somethin’, you might got more cash than me," Canibus raps on the track. "But you ain’t got the skills to eat a n***a’s a** like me!" Of course, this line took on hilarious new meaning for younger rap fans who heard it years after its release. After all, it's undeniably cheeky to say something like that in the context of a diss track nowadays. After Gorilla Nems introduced him with that line on the Outside podcast, Canibus had to set the record straight.

“Hey, that’s not what it meant back then!” he exclaimed as he laughed along. “That’s how old we are. What it is now is you see that type of stuff in the comments section on a website and you can’t do anything about it. I look at it and I’m like, ‘Why did I say that?’ because of how it is. But I know why I said it back then. The comment section is just…yellow tape.” Also during that interview, he actually shared a funny story of their reunion performing at Barclays Center in 2014. As his story goes, he asked to borrow one of LL's chains ahead of their performance.

Canibus Shares His Stories About LL Cool J

“You remember the Barclays?," he asked Nems. "I came out to the Barclays to perform with him, right? Hoodie jawn on and I’m sitting there and this n***a got so much gold on him. I’m like, ‘Yo, you know what? I can’t go out there with you. I need one of them ropes.’ So nicely, I asked him. I said, ‘Yo I got an idea.'” We staring down. He staring up at me and I’m telling you what I’m saying in my mind.

"Basically it’s like, ‘Aw, here we go again,’" he continued. "And he looked at me. I could see the whites of his eyes off the makeup on his cheek. That’s how I could see he was staring straight at me. And I was looking at him like he could read my mind, ‘If you don’t give me that chain!’ That’s what I was thinking. He said, ‘Yo, get Canibus the baby rope!’ That’s why y’all seen me come out with the baby rope!” Check out the full interview above if you're interested in the "Desperados" rapper's perspective and stories. Also, check back in with HNHH for the latest on Canibus, LL Cool J, and more remarkable hip-hop stories and reminiscing.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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