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Illseed over at AllHipHop has put up a rumor that DJ Premier has taken on the production duties for an album collaboration between Canibus and Royce Da 5'9. I'm definitely happy to hear that Primo is taking time out from his budding career as a producer for former teen pop idols (<-- mp3 link) to get back to some actual hip hop. There are even rumors that he might be the sole producer for Nas' new album (now retitled to "Hip Hop is Dead"), though sadly if Guru is to be believed there will be no further Gangstarr albums.
What I find most interesting about this rumor is the combination of Royce and Canibus. While they are both talented lyricists, the only thing they have in common is the fact that both of them have had arguments with Eminem.
Royce first came up in the hip hop game as a sidekick to Eminem, appearing on a few tracks with him including "Bad meets Evil", which was released on the Slim Shady LP. For awhile, Eminem brought Royce along to be his hypeman at all of his concerts. Tensions began after Royce asked Em to sign him to his Shady/Aftermath record label. Marshall said he was too busy filming 8 Mile to deal with that, then turned around and signed 50 Cent two days after that conversation. Royce then went on the radio and dropped a freestyle with the line "Fuck anger management, I need someone to manage my anger," a reference to Eminem's tour Anger Management. This set off a series of confrontations, ending with Royce and Proof being arrested after they pulled out guns on each other, which unfortunately was not the last time Proof would pull a gun on someone. Royce was then replaced by Proof as Eminem's hypeman. All of this is recapped in the Beef II video, which is in heavy rotation on B.E.T. in between Wayans Brothers marathons if you're interested.
As for Canibus, deciphering what is fact and what is fiction on this dude is like a hip hop version of the Da Vinci Code. Things between Em and Canibus heated up after the relase of the Eminem song Role Model, which contained the line: "So when I diss you, you wouldn't wanna answer this / If you responded back with a battle rap you wrote for Canibus." I always thought this was sort of a compliment to Canibus, an acknowledgment that Canibus' battle raps were second only to Marshall's, but Canibus thought this line implied that he was using a ghostwriter. Canibus then released several tracks directed at Em, including a follow up to Eminem's Stan, in which he described what happened to the fictional Stan after his car crash.
As bizarre as Canibus' obsession with Eminem is, things get even weirder when you try to track down any information on him. While old interviews that he has given, as well as his wikipedia entry, say that Canibus was born in Jamaica, more recent accounts say that he is actually Canadian (his alleged Canadian birth certificate was even posted up on a few message boards). The first time I ever heard of him, before his involvement with LL Cool J, he was posting on Usenet talking trash to most of the regulars on rec.music.hiphop (this is the only existing reference I could find to his old postings). After 9/11, Canibus pretty much disappeared. He has said in interviews that he was in the U.S. Military for a couple of years starting in December 2001, eventually being discharged for marijuana use, but I have read a few articles since then that have said this was all a fabrication.
Canibus also seems to have some sort of multiple personality disorder, as can be seen in his song Bis vs. Rip (which you can hear here), in which he talks about three different personas that he raps under. I remember an old interview in The Source magazine where he talked about this dude "Oh," who he claimed was his best friend growing up, and who he said was a much better rapper than him. He later admitted that this "Oh" character was just someone he made up after someone at the Source tried to track "Oh" down for an interview. However you look at it, this dude has some issues he needs to work out.
I have no idea how this Primo/Royce/Canibus collabo is going to work out, but it does sound interesting. I'm sure the beats will be dope, Royce will bring some lyrical fire, and Canibus will no doubt bring his insanity to the mic. Maybe they'll even take a few shots at Em and hopefully fire him up enough to release a decent album.
For the sake of nostalgia, here's an Eminem track dissing Canibus, in which he addresses all of main issues:
Eminem's Canibitch
6/9/2006 9:38:41 AM posted by Fresh