LL COOL J has admitted that his feud with Canibus was his doing, but that at the time he was unable to take the higher road because he “wasn’t there yet mentally.”
The pair began feuding in the late ’90s when they exchanged diss tracks and subliminal shots, but it wasn’t until 2014 that they buried the hatchet on stage at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
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In a recent interview with Million Dollaz Worth of Game, LL took responsibility for the way things unfolded while reflecting on their beef more than 20 years later.
“With him, I think it was more my fault because I could have addressed him a little differently,” LL said of Canibus. “He wanted to get a tattoo like mine. I could have said, ‘Good luck with that,’ but I didn’t understand that path at that time.
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“I wasn’t there yet mentally so I was like, ‘The fuck you mean you gonna get something like me?’ That shit sounded crazy to me at that time.”
He continued: “My brain was not developed, I was not developed like that…Now I understand it was a compliment, he was just showing love and, you know, admiration. That’s why I don’t go at him now or try to hurt these dudes. I’m not gonna play that.”
The tension between the two rappers started in 1997 when Canibus seemingly jabbed LL COOL J on his own song, “4,3,2,1,” which also featured DMX, Method Man and Redman.
His verse opened with the line: “Yo L, is that a mic on your arm? Let me borrow that,” referencing the rap legend’s famous tattoo.
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In an old interview with MTV, Canibus revealed LL called him after he recorded his verse and asked him to change it because he found it disrespectful. ‘Bus said he obliged, but was then “distraught” when he heard LL’s verse had dissed him directly.
The pair eventually down their arms during LL’s annual “Christmas In Brooklyn” event at the Barclays in December 2014, which Cannibus later said was a hilarious moment for the former foes.
“You remember the Barclays? I came out to the Barclays to perform with him, right?” Canibus told Outside With Gorilla NEMS back in February. “Hoodie jawn on and I’m sitting there and this n-gga got so much gold on him. I’m like, ‘Yo, you know what? I can’t go out there with you. I need one of them ropes.’ So nicely, I asked him. I said, ‘Yo I got an idea.’”
He continued: “We staring down. He staring up at me and I’m telling you what I’m saying in my mind. Basically it’s like, ‘Aw, here we go again.’ And he looked at me. I could see the whites of his eyes off the makeup on his cheek. That’s how I could see he was staring straight at me.”
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“And I was looking at him like he could read my mind, ‘If you don’t give me that chain!’ That’s what I was thinking. He said, ‘Yo, get Canibus the baby rope!’ That’s why y’all seen me come out with the baby rope!”
In other news, LL COOL J debuted his new single, “The Force,” on Rock The Bells Radio last week. The song serves as the first preview of his upcoming 14th studio album, which will be produced entirely by Q-Tip.
