Interview w/ CANIBUS

at the 1999 Online Hip Hop Awards (3/30/99) in Tramps, NY. http://www.beatsezine.com/urban/interview2.html

by Sounni de Fontenay

First of all tell me where you are with the Internet, what are you doing online with music?

A lot of things - man. I got my site, you know - www.canibus.com. I mean my music is definitely very important to me... the Internet gives me the freedom to display my music, display concepts that I got. I can put logos on there, pictures... you know, videos - low budget videos 'cause I got an videocam.

So you do your own videos?

Exactly, my own little thing you know. It's important, it's important to have your own identity - know what I mean - that's what I got, on the Net, on my site.

What's next after the successful release of your debut album last year? A second album in the line?

I'm working on the album right now as we speak and I got projects that I'm working on... the Four Horsemen projects, you know with Killa Priest, RasKas and Kurupt. I did a record with the Four Horsemen - it's going to be hot know, what I mean. Then I got my individual project I'm working on and everyone else is working on their individual projects.

How long have you been on the scene?

I moved to the United States when I was 13 years old from Jamaica. So I'm from a third world country, ya know what I mean. And when I came here you know, we used to do this... I used to chat on the mic, but I started to see people like Rakeem and Kane and the way they were rocking it and started to really feel it because it was a style of rocking where, 4 bars they could say so much in one bar, 4 beats in a bar, and say all this in one bar, that's how I started. I got used to rhyming or saying a whole rhyme and actually speaking, it's like a language... like I actually ended up saying something, know what I mean. You got MC's like Greg Nice rapping "My life's like a fairy tale, woke up was a great big whale." When you are rhyming you can say anything you want to say in 4 bars like I say so much.

Is there a message that you are trying to put out?

Each record is different so the message carries but it's in the same direction

Can you give us any insider tips on your upcoming projects?

As far as the Horsemen project, I'm definitely putting 100% to that. I talked to Raskas, he is in LA right now, Kurupt, in Miami right now, we are just going to bring it together man cause we are all MC's that get busy... but you know we ain't really got the props we're supposed to get. So we are going to get it... it takes time. A lot of niggas come up to me and be like yo, 'your album didn't sell.' Are you crazy, my album went gold. Black Moon, a classic album to me, only sold 250,000 copies. but it's still a classic. Nas' first album only went gold but that's still a lot. So you never know what's going to happen - know what I mean. Jigga is just now gettin' his; DMX is just now gettin his. Everything is time, know what I mean, growth is a must - evolution is inevitable.