Canibus was a well-known lyricist in the early 2000s, and he was involved in various high-profile feuds. Despite continuing to release tracks on a regular basis, his rap career did not flourish as he had intended. He eventually decided to choose a new path, which included joining the army.
Canibus informed Bootleg Kev about his choice to join following the negative reaction to his album 2000 B.C. (Before Can-I-Bus). He recounted all of his experiences that led him to join the army.
“It was right after September 11. That experience, at that time I made a record, C! True Hollywood Stories, that was the album, the album was satire, it was. It was just done to kind of, like, allegorically make an album that was– you know, to get under the skin of folks that were saying that, ‘Yo man, I want the records to be hard! I want you to spit harder. The beats, the lyrics, I want more!’ And then I gave them less. Right?”
“By making a record like that… And the record was strictly just something to– it wasn’t serious but it was something that was still palatable. It was something tangible.”
“You could have went out and got the artwork, look at it, open the fold-out [and be like], ‘Who’s that guy wearing that shirt? Why is he writing that?’ We paid 25 bands for The Source ad and The Source was scared to run the ad because of the relationships that they were saying could have been ruined, and they did it for the money.”
“And then, after that, they turn around and blackball me further. And took money to blackball me. The way I felt at that juncture was like, ‘You know what, rap ain’t it, I’m still young enough to go out and make a difference.”
It will be a whole different experience for him to go from rapping to serving in the United States Army. He may want that his family and followers support him in this decision.