LL Cool J & Canibus Squash Beef After More Than 17 Years (Video)
Very few things in 2014 Hip-Hop culture are the same as they were in 1997. However, for the first time in more than 17 years, Heads can say that LL Cool J and Canibus are cool.
At the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York last night (December 19), LL Cool J welcomed longtime nemesis Canibus to the stage for the HOT 97 & WBLS’ “Christmas In Brooklyn” concert. For the first time since shortly after it was recorded in ’97, the pair performed “4, 3, 2, 1.” The longtime dispute between LL and ‘Bis began over Canibus’ belief that LL re-recorded his verse on the song that featured Canibus and took shots at the emerging guest MC. ‘Bis displeasure would surface just days after the release of Phenomenon, with a groundbreaking cypher alongside DMX, Big Pun, Mos Def, John Forte, and Mic Geronimo.
At the Brooklyn stage last night, it was all love between the Queens, New York superstar and onetime collaborator who also claims Queens, despite being born in Jamaica. Pete Rock was among the guests who photographed and recorded the monumental affair.
Since the tension was publicly announced in the final days of 1997, it would become a focal point in the Beef documentary film series. Additionally, Canibus sported a famed tattoo that replicated LL Cool J’s microphone ink, with ‘Bis subsequently naming his 2003 LP Rip The Jacker (a play on LL’s “Jack The Ripper”). Notably, well into the lasting feud, LL thanked Canibus on his 2000 album notes for G.O.A.T., crediting the new class MC for “the inspiration.”
Would you have ever guessed that 2014 would seem to bring Lil Wayne and Birdman apart, while bringing LL Cool J and Canibus back together?