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

BYGabriel Bras Nevares6.0K Views
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images & Arnold Turner/Getty Images
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 music and pop culture news writer for HotNewHipHop. He started in 2022 as a weekend writer and, since joining the team full-time, has developed a strong knowledge in hip-hop news and releases. Whether it’s regular coverage or occasional interviews and album reviews, he continues to search for the most relevant news for his audience and find the best new releases in the genre. What excites him the most is finding pop culture stories of interest, as well as a deeper passion for the art form of hip-hop and its contemporary output. Specifically, Gabriel enjoys the fringes of rap music: the experimental, boundary-pushing, and raw alternatives to the mainstream sound. As a proud native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he also stays up-to-date with the archipelago’s local scene and its biggest musical exponents in reggaetón, salsa, indie, and beyond. Before working at HotNewHipHop, Gabriel produced multiple short documentaries, artist interviews, venue spotlights, and audio podcasts on a variety of genres and musical figures. Hardcore punk and Go-go music defined much of his coverage during his time at the George Washington University in D.C. His favorite hip-hop artists working today are Tyler, The Creator, Boldy James, JPEGMAFIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.
...