LL Cool J Names Canibus His Toughest Rap Beef Opponent: “He Was A Pain In The A**”
LL Cool J has feuded with multiple rappers throughout his career, namely Ice-T, MC Hammer, Kool Moe Dee, and MC Shan. He recently named his toughest rap opponent when it came to lyrical fisticuffs, and it was none other than Canibus, who he called a “pain in the a**.”
The Queens rapper sat down with Ray Daniels and was asked which battle in his career was the most difficult. “I would say out of all them, probably Canibus because he was a pain in the a**,” LL stated. He claimed that he was more disconnected at that time, thus making engaging in warfare a bit tougher. “It’s like one of them Rocky movies when he’s driving through the tunnel with the f**king Rolls-Royce and he’s having flashbacks and sh*t, you got this Mr. T muthafucka over here rapping out the basement. That was the vibe.”
He described how much the Bronx rapper’s jabs affected him, saying, “He’s rapping in my ears, biting at my calf muscles. I’m over here doing sitcoms and sh*t. I’m like, ‘Yo, this sh*t is crazy right now!’ This motherf**ker f**king with me, bothering me in the middle of the night.” The NCIS actor also admitted that “the culture” didn’t make the experience any easier. “Our culture is crazy ’cause they won’t leave you alone about this sh*t,” he exclaimed. “‘What you gonna do about your man?’ You just gotta deal with this sh*t, right? So I would say Canibus.”
Years have passed since then and LL Cool J admitted that he has no hard feelings toward Canibus. “I wish him the best,” he said. That likely wasn’t the case in 1997 when the 49-year-old rapper went at him on his song “4, 3, 2, 1” which also featured Redman, Method Man, and DMX.
He targeted LL’s microphone tattoo on his bicep, rapping, “Yo Method, where the gods at? Redman, where the Squad at?/ Yo L, is that a mic on your arm? Let me borrow that.” Canibus ended up changing the lines on his final version, but the Deep Blue Sea actor doubled down by keeping his response verse on the song.
“When young sons fantasize of borrowing flows/ Tell little shorty with the big mouth the bank is closed/ The symbol on my arm is off limits to challengers/ You hold the rusty swords, I swing the Excalibur,” LL rapped. “Now let’s get back to this mic on my arm/ If it ever left my side, it’d transform into a time bomb/ You don’t wanna borrow that, you wanna idolize/ And you don’t wanna make me mad, ni**a, you wanna socialize.”
Canibus didn’t allow himself to be outdone and continued the beef on his track “Second Round K.O.” From there, they traded blows on “The Ripper Strikes Back,” “Back Where I Belong,” and “Rip the Jacker.” The feud eventually ceased and LL Cool J even admitted he was at fault even beginning.
“With [Canibus], I think it was more my fault because I could have addressed him a little differently,” he told Million Dollaz Worth Of Game last year. “He wanted to get a tattoo like mine. I could have said, ‘Good luck with that,’ but I didn’t understand that path at that time.”
He even called his response to Canibus’ original verse on “4, 3, 2, 1” immature. “I wasn’t there yet mentally so I was like, ‘The f**k you mean you gonna get something like me?’” he said. “That sh*t sounded crazy to me at that time. My brain was not developed, I was not developed like that […] Now I understand it was a compliment, he was just showing love and, you know, admiration. That’s why I don’t go at him now or try to hurt these dudes. I’m not gonna play that.”
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