Canibus

Four years removed from the flash-in-the-pan success of "Second Round K.O.," Canibus seems to have finally come to terms with his has-been status on Mic Club: The Curriculum, where he emphasizes heady rhyming rather than his pointed dis tracks of the past. The first two hard-hitting tracks, "Poet Laureate" and "Master Thesis," illustrate this well. Canibus had always been a thoughtful rapper with a gift for bookish wordplay, even if he'd garnered much more attention for his battling skills as displayed previously on "Second Round K.O." (pointed at LL Cool J) and "Stan Lives!" (at Eminem). Other tracks here like "Cenoir Studies 02" and "Dr. C Ph.D" similarly boast an educated demeanor, and Canibus teams up with fellow street intellectual Kool G Rap on "Allied Meta Forces." Given the shortage of hardcore yet scholarly rappers out there, Canibus offers a refreshing alternative to his bestial hardcore peers as well as his boringly behaved scholarly ones and presents himself as a proud, true anomaly. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide