LL Cool J was planning his new album, Phenomenon. It was set to be a commercial hit with production coming from Puff Daddy and the Hitmen, and of course the Trackmasterz. In an effort to restore some much-needed street credibility, Uncle L assembled Redman, Method Man, DMX and Canibus for a track with production from Erick Sermon named 4,3,2,1. DMX was a little known rapper at the time, and Canibus had brought fame to his name with stellar performances on The Firm's "Desperados", and "Beasts From The East" with A+, and Redman on the Lost Boyz album, "Love, Peace and Nappiness".
While working on his album, LL met Canibus in a studio, they had a conversation about the large microphone tattoo on LL's arm. Canibus asked LL what he thought about Canibus getting a similar tattoo. LL said it would be fine with him as long as it was meant as a sign of respect, Canibus assured him it was.

When Redman, Meth, DMX and Canibus had layed down their verses for the track 4,3,2,1, LL was listening to the beginning of Canibus's verse:

"Meth, where the Gods at? / Reggie, where the Squad at? / LL, is that a mic on your arm? Lemme borrow that!

For some stupid-ass reason, LL Cool J takes offence to this. A young MC gives him props for a dope tattoo on his arm, and he goes crazy. So Cool J goes into the studio and records this verse:

When young sons fantasize of borrowing flows
tell little shorty with the big mouth the bank is closed (yeah, word up)
The symbol on my arm is off limits to challengers
You hold the rusty swords I swing the Excalibur
How dare you step up in my dimension?
Your little ass should be somewhere cryin on detention
Watch your mouth better yet hold your tongue
I'ma do this shit for free this time this one's for fun
Blow you to pieces, leave you covered in faeces
with one thesis ("LL Cool J is hard")
Every little boy wanna pick up the mic
and try to run with the big boys and live up to the real hype
But that's like pickin up a ball, playin with Mike
Swingin at Ken Griffey or challengin Roy to a fight
Snappin, you amateur MC's
Don't you know I'm like the Dream Team tourin overseas
For rappers in my circle I'm a deadly disease
Ringmaster, bringin a tiger cub to his knees (uhh)
In the history of rap they've never seen such prominence
Your naive confidence gets crushed by my dominance (word up)
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 nigga you wanna socalize
And I'm daring every MC in the game
to play yourself out position, and mention my name
I make a rhyme for every syllable in your name
Go platinum for every time your grimy ass was on the train
Watch your mouth don't ever step out of line
LL Cool J nigga, greatest of all time

Now that's a pretty heavy dis to Canibus there, especially considering he was trying to show LL respect. Then, Canibus is chillin down in LA, so I'm told, and he gets this message on his pager sayin he has to call LL Cool J. So he calls him, and Cool J says something like;

"Yo Canibus man, I got a problem with part of your verse right, come into the studio and change it or you're out of the cut aight? You change your verse and I'll change mine kid." That's how I know the story, although I have been told LL never said he would change his verse. LL just said that no-one would know he was talking about Canibus or something.

So anyway, Canibus does what he's asked, he goes in, changes it up, takes out the mic reference in the beginning and goes home. But the bitch-ass LL Cool J never took out his verse, hoping it would seem he burned this young gun Canibus.

Then Canibus hears this verse, infuriated with this slap in the face, he records the unforgettable "Second Round KO" with Mike Tyson on the intro, outro and breaks, and Wyclef Jean handling the production. In my opinion, the song was excellent, I loved it. There were too many lyrical gems to mention, but these are just two:

"So I'ma let the world know the truth / you don't want me to shine / You studied my rhyme, then you lays your vocals after mine / That's a bitch move / somethin that a homo rapper would do....."

"You walk around showin off your body cause it sells / Plus to avoid the fact that you ain't got skills / Mad at me cause I kick that shit real niggaz feel / While 99% of your fans wear high heels...."

Bottom line, Canibus burned LL Cool J. Period. LL Cool J answered back with "The Ripper Strikes Back", referring to his past hardcore hit "Jack The Ripper" In my opinion, this song had a nice beat, and the potential to be a considerable answer to Second Round KO. But, LL choked up pretty badly. Here's why:

* LL Cool J did exactly what he did on 4,3,2,1, meaning, he studied Canibus' rhyme, and then wrote an answer back to every point. This could have worked, but his punchlines were terrible. To the "While 99% of your fans wear high heels" line, LL Cool J replied "99% of your fans don't exist" What the hell is that?? It's something some little immature 8 year old kid would say, plus it doesn't make sense. How can someone have fans that don't exist??

* In Second Round KO, Canibus never mentioned LL Cool J's name, but in The Ripper Strikes Back, the hook is: "Can I bus? Yes you can!"

* LL Cool J also dissed Mike Tyson and Wyclef Jean in the track. Referring to Wyclef as a "Bob Marley imposter" and making comments about Iron Mike like "Heard that convicted rapist on the record too, straight out of jail ass cheeks still black and blue..." Now to the problems with those comments - Is it just me, or is the only way Wyclef and Bob Marley are in any way similar is because they both have dreads and both come from the Caribbean? Bob Marley never made any rap albums, and Wyclef does make some reggae, but he makes just about anything anyway. Now to Mike Tyson. When LL first heard Second Round KO, he said he was "deeply hurt" or some bullshit because he considered Tyson to be 'a close friend' So who says stuff like what LL said to Tyson to a close friend?

Anyway, after "The Ripper Strikes Back", Wyclef Jean released "What's Clef Got To Do With It?" Now I thought this one was severely underrated. It was damn funny, as Clef included insults about LL's receding hairline. Wyclef made his point clearly and quickly, with lines such as this one:

Every two records do scenarios
You get the best MC's there to rhyme first
Of course you rap last, B, to show off your skirt
I guess it didn't work on "4-3-2-1"
You got out done by Canibus the young gun

Another good thing about it was that Clef used a softer beat so he didn't front like a hardcore cat, because who can seriously picture Wyclef doin something like Dr. Dre's "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat" or "G.O.D PTIII" by Mobb Deep? He kept it real, plus he got Naomi Campbell on the track sayin LL was wack. Not that hip-hop headz really look to Naomi Campbell for her opinions on who's wack and who's dope in the rap game, but it was a cool surprise anyway.

So after all that drama, it appears the beef has slowed down a little, which doesn't mean it's been squashed. To end this explanation, I just wanna say LL GOT RIPPED. It all backfired in his face. I guess it just proves that you can't test Canibus, like he said in "Making a name for ourselves" - "You niggaz need to stop testin me / coz you know you can't 'F' wit me / steppin to me wit insuperior weaponry"

Canibus is an amzni MC....U should all download "U Didn't Care" by Cannibus......Itz a continuation to "Stan" By Em....itz crazz-y 

 

Whether or not hip-hop needs saving, Ray Benzino has taken it upon himself to thwart those he feels are jeopardizing the culture. Namely, he's bothered by what he calls "the machine," and has been taking swipes lately at what he feels is the machine's biggest cog — platinum poster child Eminem.

"I wanna be careful with the word 'beef,' because people could definitely take that and run with it with their own version of it," he said Tuesday about the war of words with rap's top record-seller (see "Benzino Ignites Beef By Calling Eminem '2003 Vanilla Ice' "). "I just call it a debate with my opinion on issues. Hip-hop came from the streets. It's gone mainstream, it's corporate, but it is part of culture. It breathes life into a lot of people. I just felt that on my first record where I went at Eminem, it wasn't so much about Em, it was about the machine. The way media outlets are taking what Eminem is doing and using it as a double standard for what other artists are doing.

"Eminem gets to do songs that we would never get to do," he added. "Eminem gets to talk about his issues and his pain ... killing his mother, beating his girl, drugs. We have to rock the party in order to get spins and burn on the radio. We have to entertain more than expose our true issues. When black and Latino people try to give our pain on there we couldn't get burn. The machine doesn't want our pain to be out there."

After Benzino threw barbs at Em and members of the Shady Records camp via a mixtape freestyle and a song called "Pull Your Skirt Up," Em and Obie Trice responded with their own street freestyles and songs such as "Nail in the Coffin" on a Shady Records mixtape titled Invasion.

Now Benzino has come back with a track called "Die Another Day," where, among other things, he calls D12 and Obie "house n---as," chastises other rappers who battle each other ("The so-called kings steady going at each other/ Doing songs with the devil while they fighting with their brother"), compares Em to racist figures ("You're the rap David Duke, you're the rap Hitler ... I'm the rap Malcolm [X], the rap Martin [Luther King]") and even has a few words for Em's daughter, warning that she may share the fate of Jon Benet Ramsey.

"Wordplay, it's all wordplay," Benzino, who is also the co-owner of The Source magazine, said about whether he really wants to get physically violent with Eminem. "I'm from the machine, I don't want to bring any harm to Marshall Mathers. At the same time, my message got across. I feel Eminem came at me personally. I think he feels that nobody should go at him.

"To me, he was just the hood ornament for the vehicle," Benzino continued. "By me going at the hood ornament, maybe I could put a small dent in the vehicle. I just wanted to raise consciousness. It's not like I'm hating on Eminem, its just a situation that had to be brought up."

Benzino even says he talked to Em's manager Paul Rosenberg about keeping the war of words verbal. A taped phone conversation between Benzino and a man he claims to be Rosenberg precedes Benzino's rhymes in "Die Another Day."

"We had a conversation about keeping it on record," Benzino said. "I gave him my views about why I did what I did. In my opinion he understood what I was saying. But like any manager, you're always trying to soften the blow. He was trying to be a buffer between me and Em."

Em has finally responded with two new tracks featured on DJ Kay Slay's new Mixtape Street Justice Pt. 6. The two new songs, "I Don't Wanna" and "Nail In The Coffin", speak on Benzino's career, his management of The Source, the exploitation of his son, Ray Ray and his overall reputation in the music business.

In the track, "Nail In The Coffin", Em Says:

"F*** a relationship, we through/no more of The Source's street credit them days is dead/ Ray's got AK's at Dave Mays' head/every issue, there's an eight-page Made Men spread/ will somebody please tell whoever braids his head/ that I am not afraid of this f***in' waste of lead/on my pencil/for me to write some s*** this simple...put me on your f***in' cover just to sell your little sellout mag/I ain't mad, I feel bad/here's an ad, here's a poster of Ray Ray and his dad/you wanna talk about some s*** that you don't know about, yeah/let's talk about how you puttin' your own son out there/and try to eat off him, cuz you missed your boat..."

"Just know that, Benzino's wack/no matter how many times I say his name you'll never blow, jack/you're better off tryin' to bring RSO back/look at your track record that's how far it goes back/it's extortion and Ray owns a portion/so half of the staff up there is fresh outta jail, from Boston /bullyin' and bossin', Dave like a slave/ they completely brainwashed him/and forced him to stay locked in his own office/afraid of the softest, fakest wannabe gangster in New York/and it's pitiful cuz I woulda never said s*** if you'd have kept your mouth shut..."

Em continues the tirade in the song, "I Don't Wanna" saying:

"You f***in' punk p**** f*** you chump/gimme a one on one, see if I don't f***you up/tryin to jump the Ruff Ryders and they cut u up/then you put Jada on a track, that's how much you suck/d*** in the industry, swear that you in the streets hustlin'/you sit behind a desk at the source butt kissin/and beggin muthaf****as for guest appearances/and you can't even get the clearances/cause real lyricists don't even respect you or take u serious/it's not that we don't like you, we hate you period..."

And to make matters worse, Eminem protégé' Obie Trice responded to Benzino's rants about him in a freestyle over Cam' Ron's "Welcome To New York City," renaming it "Welcome To Detroit City." In the song, Obie says:

"What's strange to me, Benzino been in the game/and Obie just came/and he ain't got more fame than me/that ish's wild/blame it on a white boy, ni99a, that's your style"

aight ya'll.. ama hit ya up wit some new shit from tha streets. heheh this interview wit benzino and angie martinez (host of hot 97 radio show in new york) and I really want ya'll to tell me what ya think bout Benzino... is he being real or is he sick and tired of trying to get so much attention but he can't get any....

------------------------------------------------------------
Benzino phoned into the Angie Martinez show on Hot 97 to respond to her interview with Eminem. Benzino was sorta upset that Angie seemed to take sides with Eminem, but she says she isn't taking any sides. Benzino tried the argument that Eminem is a white boy trying to steal hip hop, but Angie told him that Eminem isn't to blame, he should be going after the industry. Read on for a transcript.

Benzino: "Yo I'm from da hood! I'm reppin for my people man!! I rep the block!! This is for hip hop!! Hip hop is da streets!!" Angie: But why don't you have beef with any of the other artists who's selling like Nelly and Ja? Why Em?

Benzino: Cuz this cr@cka dont know nothing about the streets! I'm from the streets! I'm reppin for all my ghetto ni99az man! This cr@cka think he can come here and extort hip hop! Hip hop is the streets!

Angie: Is this cuz he's white? Why did you just use the word cr@cka'?

Benzino: Yo, forget you Angie!! He called me a woman and a ***** in that interview with you, and you let him get away with it, so I have the right to call him a cr@cka! Whats your problem?!

Angie: But you're using a racial slur here Ben.

Benzino: So what? You know that white boy wants to call us ni99as, but he wont do it cuz that would be the end of his career! He's dying to call us all ni99az, but he cant do that. I thought you was with me on this, and I'm sad to see that you not. That white boy obviously brainwashed you!.

Angie: Brainwashed? I don't appreciate that at all Ben. You need to accept the fact that people dont agree with you.

Benzino: But the streets do AGREE with me!!

Angie: But alot of people dont, and you need to understand that!

Benzino: I do understand that. Bottom line is this white boy dont know nothing about the streets. And if he's listening, we can fight anywhere... Denmark, Alaska, Detroit. Set it up and I'll destroy you.

Angie: What about some people saying that you're dissing Em to boost your record sales?

Benzino: C'mon now, let me say this... ya boy Ben is financially set. I dont need to do this hip hop thing anymore. Angie, we both from the same label (Elektra). You know how I get down. True, I never sold any records, but it aint about rap to me. It's about connecting with the hood and the streets. I dont know nothing about fame and being arrogant. I'm with my people and the hood. People who know me knows that Benzino is the realest ²²²²² they know. This dude aint even from Detroit. Okay so he's from some trailor park, but he dont know nothing about the streets. He dont know how it feels about going outside and worrying that somebody might shoot you.

Angie: But he never talks about that in his rymes Ben...

Benzino: ::not even listening to Angie anymore, just babbling away, heated as ****:: He dont know anything about us. What does he talk about? About his slut of a wife who ****s every dude? About killing his moms? He can say whatever he wants, but nobody will stop him cuz he's white.

Angie: Nobody stops him? What about the thousands of activists who tried to shut him down?

Benzino: ::ignoring her:: This dude is wack. He's stealing hip hop from us, from the streets.

Angie: I'm sorry Ben, but Em is one of the nicest in the game. The kid is nasty.

Benzino-: ::shocked:: Thats cuz he brainwashed you!

Angie: *laughs* whatever man

Benzino: Look at this. You obviously on his side. Compare this interview to his interview, and you obviously on his jock. He was talking all that **** about me, and all you did was giggle.

Angie: Ben, I'm not your babysitter dog. You came at him, so he responded. I'm not here to defend you or Em.

Benzino: But throughout that interview, you kept on referring to me as 'that dude'. What the hell was that about Angie?!?

Angie: ::laughs:: What are you talking about?

Benzino: Why didn't you call me by my name? Why you callin me 'that dude'? Why are you on his side?!

Angie: You can't be serious Ben. I called you by your name at least 4o times, and you're gettin mad at the times when i said 'that dude'?

Angie: Yes, I went out and bought Em's album because I love him as an artist. I think all of his albums were dope. He's nice.

Benzino: : as hell:: Nice?! Him? Compared to who?? I know thousands of street ni99az who's better that cant even get a deal because of this white boy!

Angie: So what about the people who worked with him?

Benzino: SELLOUTS!! But anybody who agrees with this kid has to have other motives, like wanting to be on his album. Thats gotta be it.

Angie: ::laughs:: What about the idea that you might be wrong?

Benzino: I can't see it, cuz it is what it is.

Angie: What about Dre?

Benzino: Dre is a great producer, but his street credibility is real shaky right now. I dont even think he ****s with Em anymore.

Angie: Have you ever listened to any of his albums Ben?

Benzino: Heeeell no. I dont listen to that trash. I listen to real hip hop.. Scarface, Jay, Nas, Mobb Deep. Thats street hip hop. This ****** dyed his hair blonde, took a bunch of blonde white kids at the VMA's and he's stealing hip hop. He even said that in his rhymes... 'i use black music to make myself wealthy heeey'. You didnt hear that ****? He's extortin us yo! I cant believe yall are gettin brainwashed like this!!

Angie: ::aughs::

Benzino: See, you laughing now. But we'll see whos laughing in 10 years. I cant believe yall are sleeping on this guy. Yall laughing now, but soon yall wont have any deals, and this game wont even be in our hands anymore, and we'll be suckers...just like Elis Presly stole rock ands roll from blacks. When that happens, then we'll see who laughs.

Angie: Ben, dont be mad at me--

Benzino: Thats why the Source is a great thing. The Source will be here forever. Even when most ni99az are gone, the Source will still be here.

Angie: Lets not bring the source in here Ben..

Benzino: Why not? Don't you wanna be in the source angie?

Angie: ::laughs:: I dunno, The Source doesnt like me, so it doesnt matter to me at all. I dont care.

Benzino: ::changes topic:: Bottom line is, these white people are stealing from us! Why is he selling so many units?! Answer me that!

Angie: Because he appeals to alot of people.

Benzino: Appeals to who?!?

Angie: To people like myself, a young puerto rican woman.

Benzino: AHHH!!

Angie: Yeah, and to a lot of white people of course.

Benzino: But how come Scarface dont sell that many units?? Or Mobb Deep?

Angie: Ben, you gotta realize that a lot of people appeal with Em, mostly white people. Theyd dont appeal to Scarface. This is a buisness. If you want your product to sell, you need to appeal to the masses. Thats why theres so many party records out there. More people appeal to Em and his struggle than they appeal to the hardcore street things that you talk about. Dont be mad at Em. The way I look at it, if you're gonna try to hate on Em, dont target all your hate on him... hate the whole system. But all you're doing is putting all your attention on one single person.

All I have to say is dat benzino aint goin n e where wit tryin to diss up Eminem...hez juss sellin less records...there is no way in his life he can beat Em lyrically.....cause Em will destroy him....

 

Enter 50 and JA. JA Rule first was heard on record as a member of the "Cash Money Click" in the mid-1990's, but gained recognition as a mainstream rapper with his appearances on Jay-Z's "Can I get a…" single and Rule's own "Holla Holla," which was his debut single as a solo artist. Ja Rule always based his rhymes around the same Thug Image he tends to portray on record, but by his second album, he was singing his hooks, appealing to a female fan base. He lost a lot of his male listeners, who couldn't understand why he was doing these "soft" songs to sell records.

Meet 50 Cent, a.k.a. Curtis Jackson, a rapper straight out of Queens (ironically where Ja Rule is from), who has said in his lyrics simply that. "I want em' to love me like they love Pac" (the late, great Tupac Shakur was another rapper who had made a name through MC battles by annihilating his opponents on stinging "diss" tracks).

He managed to get himself noticed by Eminem and Dr. Dre, who would put him on the soundtrack to Em's movie “8 Mile,” and later sign him to Shady/Aftermath records, a deal which included a rumored $1,000,000 signing bonus. With the circulation of "Wanksta" and "In da Club," bangin out of stereos nationwide, 50 Cent has sold a reported 4.1 million albums from his debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin”.

50 Cent fired the first shots at Ja Rule on the song "Wanksta." Although 50 Cent never said Ja Rule's name specifically, Ja was clearly the topic of the song. To summarize the song, it's just 50 Cent talking sh*t, something he has proven to do well. Put that with a hard beat from Dr. Dre and you got a hit record, go figure.

The reply to this song was not done by Ja Rule, but by Ja's Murder INC label-mate, Black Child, on a song entitled "The Real Wanksta." The song, as you probably guessed, was done over the original "Wanksta" beat. Black went all out lyrically to dismantle 50 and expose his true image, which in Black's perception is a "snitch" working for the NYPD. Black, who is also from Queens (surprisingly enough), claims that 50 is lying about most of the things he rapped about doing, and that he doesn't even see him outside in the neighborhood he claims to be running. He even says the name of an undercover cop who 50 is supposedly working for.

50 Cent responded to Murder INC on with his group G-Unit with the underground song, "I smell p*ssy." The song starts out with 50 sniffing and saying,

"I smell p*ssy Is that you Irv (Irv Gotti, Murder INC C.E.O) I smell p*ssy Is that you Ja, I smell p*ssy Is that you Black, I smell p*ssy Is that you Tah (Cadillac Tah, Ja Rule's younger brother).

Ja took a page out of 50's play-book on his next move which was two underground tracks entitled "Murder Freestyle" and "Loose Change," both going after 50 Cent, Eminem, Dr. Dre and even former collaborator vocalist Lil Mo. Not surprisingly, Rule starts off lyrically laying the smack down on 50 Cent, referring to his foe as "loose change." 50's team of "peons" are then addressed.

"Gay Dre Young/ Suge told me you used to take transvestites home/ ... No wonder Feminem be cross-dressing in pumps and tight little dresses," Rule says about the dynamic duo of Dr. Dre and Eminem. "The rapper that sings and blings" even calls out singer Truth Hurts, saying he can't tell whether she's a man or woman.

Truth isn't the only songstress who gets caught in the Murder Inc. hailstorm of barbs. Lil' Mo, a former friend of the camp, is called a *****, and Rule asks when she last had a hot song, answering himself with "never." (Mo had publicly accused the Inc. of being ungrateful for her contributions to songs such as "Put It on Me" and "I Cry.")

"No" is the answer to whether Murder Inc. had anything to do with the two shootings at the offices of Violator Management in recent weeks. Rule's rhymes imply that Chris Lighty and Busta Rhymes went to Russell Simmons with those accusations.

"They shootin'! Ah, Chris, you shook/ And got Bus rhyming the same old hook," Rule says over the beat to Nas' "Made You Look." The freestyle ends with Rule unfavorably foreshadowing the destiny of Eminem's daughter.

Eminem and 50 Cent have dropped a bomb on the Murder Inc. camp with a remake of Tupac's "Hail Mary".The song begins with an intro from Violator CEO Chris Lighty dissing Murder Inc CEO Irv Gotti saying "Ayo, this is Chris Lighty, f#@$ you Irv Gotti, no subliminals, hollerin' in the back, we heard you! Yo this is Chris Lighty with my man Kay Slay, f#@$ you Irv Gotti!"

Once the beat drops, Em sings the chorus of Hail Mary, but with re-worked lyrics: "Come get me, If you want Shady / If Pac was here now / He would never ride with Ja / nah, nah, nah, nah".

Em's verse begins with, "You aint no killer you a pu$$y / That ecstasy done got you all emotional and mushy / beeyatches wearin rags in photos, Ja's words being quoted / In The Source stealin Pac's sh!t like he just wrote it..."

After Eminem's verse, 50 comes in saying, "Little ni99as name Ja think he live like me / Talkin about he left the hospital took nine like me / You livin fantasies ni99a, I been checkin ya deposit / When your little sweet ass gonna come out of the closet? / Now he wonderin why DMX blowed him out / Next time grown folks talkin beeyatch close yo mouth..."

50 also took a shot at Murder Inc. artist Black Child saying, "Black yous a motherf#@$ing punk and you'll see me with gloves / Quit scarin them f#@$ing kids wit yo ugly ass mug... " In his verse, 50 also calls out Cadillac Tah and Irv Gotti.

The feud at this point is up for grabs.

All I gotz to say is dat....50 is killing it...hez makin like 50 new songz a monthz or so....n Ja needs to quite singin soft songz wit Ashanti....cause itz not workin for him....he sayin hez a gangsta.....but it donn look like it .....

No doubt that this latest development will start off a fresh new battle between Murder Inc. and Shady/Aftermath Records.