Can-I-Bus
Long a staple of the New York mix-tape scene, Canibus saw his impending debut get hyped for months. Maybe, though, there wastoomuch buzz, and maybe it became more of a distraction than a confidence builder because, unfortunately, onCan-I-Bus, the silver-tongued (and sometimes -faced) MC is plagued not by a lack of rhymes--after all, "[Canibus] without lyrics is like a porn flick without sex," as he boasts on "Buckingham Palace"--but by utterly somnolent production. Though Wyclef Jean succeeds with the pulsing "Second Round K.O." and the Eno-meets-dub "Buckingham Palace," most of the beats are lackluster, hardly befitting Canibus's verbal blaze. With a producer like DJ Premier (of Gang Starr) or even Laze E. Laze (M.O.P.), Canibus would have a track worthy of his penetrating flow.--Jon Caramanica