Why is Canibus so underrated?

I first heard of Canibus in Eminem's lyrics on the Slim Shady LP. The references to his work were critical, so I assumed that he wasn't that good a rapper. That impression remained with me when I heard the continued criticism in Eminem's later work.

A few years later, I came across a couple of tracks which really impressed me. These were Poet Laureate II (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iUWGhnqBxM) and Desperados (on which he has the opening verse, as a member of the Firm) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-siHsGaNcE).

In these, I hear deft wordplay and a confident flow. There's a great range of vocabulary. There are literary references, internal rhymes, and syllabic inversion (e.g. 'He was Poet Laureate of his time'). I think these are great verses.

So why isn't he better known? Why isn't he given more credit for his work? It may be that Eminem's attacks have had a negative effect. But were they ever justified?

Sorry about the formatting above. Could someone change those links to the version?

Because his beats invariably suck.

I have the album where "Poet Laureate II" from. It has some dope beats and nice rhymes, but about 80% of Canibus's lyrics on it are about himself, what a great rapper he is, and how he's been unfairly dismissed by others. Even in a self-centred genre like rap that's too much too swallow. Whenever he talks about something else than himself, it gets interesting, but then he always returns to his favourite subject. Also, I think his flow is too monotonic and pauseless, it gets kinda boring after a while.

he was good til the first album came out. bad beats, not the best songwriter, but he is/was a great rapper, just for beasts from the east alone.

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.19684/title.canibus-forfeits-in-pay-per-view-rap-battle

i still dont fully understand what a "pay per view rap battle is" and who would pay to see one in 2012?

rapidshare-per-view

i still dont fully understand what a "pay per view rap battle is" and who would pay to see one in 2012?

― la musica de harry frogbs (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, June 10, 2012 6:45 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

the answer to this has to be "people who are still canibus fans in 2012" right?

like all the blog stories about "OMG Canibus takes out piece of paper in pay-per-view rap battle" leaves me with more questions than answers...

Like it's seriously like everyone is typing "Bran Van 3000 caught lip-syncing at live nationwide webcast"

o_O

kinda sad, he's clearly going through some kinda mental break

http://forbezdvd.com/blog/2012/06/12/canibus-says-he-was-abducted-thats-why-he-pulled-out-the-notepad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=canibus-says-he-was-abducted-thats-why-he-pulled-out-the-notepad&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

is it really a 'break' if he's been talking like that for 15 years?

nah i know but this seems different than regular canibus crazy

because agents of the dark world ran up on him with a helicopter in a blog post instead of a verse?

I'm pretty sure most rappers who rap about demons and aliens are not expecting anyone to think they've actually met demons and aliens in real life. So yeah, it's a bit different to talk about that stuff in a song than to put it in a blog post as an excuse for some IRL misbehaviour.

apparently the blog post wasnt him

please tell me agents of the dark world hacked his blog