Jay-Z tried to warn Canibus about entering the music industry
Jay-Z has been in the music industry for almost three decades, and since his explosion onto the scene with his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt, he has brushed shoulders with all kinds of people.
In 2003, after the release of In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter and his Blueprint album series, the Brooklyn lyricist insisted that following his project, The Black Album, he would retire. However, he ended up coming back and extending his album run. His success continued through the late 2000s with his 2009 album The Blueprint 3 with its single ‘Empire State of Mind,’ giving Jay his first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as lead artist.
The ‘Hard Knock Life’ emcee has seen many artists come and go and has attempted to give advice to those who are new to the music business. That said, Jay-Z approached a young Canibus when he was on the come-up.
Bronx native Canibus found fame following a 1996 remix of the Lost Boyz single ‘Music Makes Me High’ and was set to be the next big emcee out of New York. As such, it only made sense that at some point, he would cross paths with Jay-Z, the hottest rapper in the city.
During a recent appearance on the Outside with Gorilla Nems podcast, Canibus recalled how, in 1997, at the opening of Diddy’s first restaurant, Justin’s, Jay-Z approached him to give him a heads-up about the savage nature of the industry.
Detailing the exchange, Canibus told Gorilla Nems, “He said, ‘Yo Canibus, man… I like yo sh*t. You ready for what this game about to do to you?’ real cool.” He added, “And me being young and ignorant, I said, ‘Hell yeah, I’m ready!’”
However, Canibus then proceeded to admit that he wasn’t ready and, in hindsight, should have forged a stronger relationship with Jay-Z as he might have been able to help him move forward and navigate the industry in a smarter way.
That same year, Canibus ended up getting on the wrong side of the ‘Rock The Bells’ icon LL Cool J, and a vicious back-and-forth between the two broke out, which did not help the Bronx native in any way. In fact, it set him back before he had even had the chance to enter the charts.
Although Canibus, like Jay-Z, has continued releasing music with albums such as his 1998 debut Can-I-Bus and 2001’s C! True Hollywood Stories, Canibus didn’t reach the heights he could have and, to this day, regrets not taking more advice from Jay-Z early in his career.