A Reader's Gut Reaction: Canibus & Keith Murray - The Undergods (EP) (September 29, 2009)

(I had completely forgotten about this project. Today's Reader Review finds longtime contributor Dag Diligent tackling the Keith Murray and Canibus collaboration The Undergods, an EP which is exclusively available as an mp3 download only at this time, exactly one year after it first hit the Interweb. Be sure to leave some comments below.)


On the surface, Keith Murray and Canibus seem like a good combination, and not just because they first worked together on “Some Shit” from Murray's It's A Beautiful Thing. They have surprisingly similar backgrounds: both are both mid-level East Coast hip hop veterans who peaked in popularity over a decade ago. They are also somewhat cerebral emcees who sometimes delightfully confuse facts and spit nonsense because they can. Both men experienced early success and then watched their careers slide into oblivion. They have each made so many weak and reckless comeback attempts that they have virtually guaranteed that no one will check for their work, except for bloggers looking for an easy target. Like me.


But as a long-time hip hop head who bought Murray’s The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World in 1994, and followed the Canibus / LL Cool J battle as it played out on Hot 97, I can assure you that these two emcees are highly unbalanced and have a lot of baggage to overcome to create anything worth listening to. (Actually, all they need is just one good song, but somehow I don’t see it happening, as their potential for a comeback is that low.)


I mentioned that these two are quite an unbalanced team, and here’s why: Keith Murray is a genuine emcee while Canibus is a novelty act. Murray came up under the wing of Erick Sermon, earning his rep by dropping two decent albums The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World and Enigma. He has a disarming and engaging style that works well, balancing out the Def Squad trio by providing the middle ground between the boisterous Redman and the lethargic Erick Sermon. He is also one of the few emcees who actually sounds good over an Erick Sermon beat. His career was eventually disrupted by his anger issues, a prison sentence for assaulting a record label employee, and later on, his inability to secure decent beats.


Canibus, on the other hand, is a technically astute emcee who can pull together imaginative rhymes, but has absolutely no charisma. Everything about him seems gimmicky: his name is a bad pun, he always sounds “drama-school” angry, he seems to literally spits into the mic when he raps, some of his word choices make me cringe, and his college vocabulary is forced into every pretentious rhyme. He received enormous attention for rap-battling LL Cool J over some bullshit line about a tattoo on the song “4,3,2,1”, which led to a lot of radio play and a solo album. I know it’s unlikely, but I’ve always believed that his LL battle was somehow engineered by the record labels to (1) boost the sales of LL’s garbage album Phenomenon and (2) strongly introduce the next rap messiah, Canibus. The hype for Canibus was thick, but his debut album Can-I-Bus never came close to living up to expectations, so his career has been in the toilet ever since (except maybe for his stint in the Army, where at least he briefly pulled a regular paycheck). Oh, and his beats are always terrible.


The Undergods EP appears to be doomed. It features two has-been emcees who have never pulled good beats. Canibus is one of the two emcees. The other, Keith Murray, is actually very good friends with the sworn enemy of Canibus, LL Cool J. (Must have made for some awkward lunch breaks.) And the reviewer is biased (but at least respects Murray).


But at least the album contains only seven tracks.


1. ONE TWENTY NINE
You’ll know that Erick Sermon produced this beat within the first few seconds, as it follows his standard clean and boring approach. But the Chuck D. sample works well for a hook and adds some energy, especially within the song's boxing context. (It turns out that E. Serm produced about half the album, or to be more specific, the worst half.) Keith Murray sounds right at home on E's beat and almost reminds me of his Def Squad days. Canibus, on the other hand, is grating as usual.


2. SHOW 'EM WHAT CRAZY IS (FEAT TECH N9NE)
The track begins with our friends calling themselves the Burnout Brothers, which is apparently their alternate group name. Which is a terrible idea, since Canibus insultingly calls his wack peers “sellout emcees with burned out skills” just two songs later. The beat is bad, and Murray’s voice is terrible on the chorus, too. Special guest star Tech N9ne is actually the worst of the three. Fuck.


3. NO BRAINER
The beat is overly busy, but it starts to bang once it gets going. Keith Murray rocks it perfectly, which just goes to show that, with improved production, Mr. Murray could still be a relevant player in the game. Canibus sounds rushed, but he earns his keep on this here (except for on his line, “How many hands am I holding up man? Four. I only got 2”). This is definitely the best that the Undergods have to offer.


4. GOTTA BE REAL
This brand of sappy-smooth instrumental appears to be mandatory on the comeback albums of veteran emcees; on here, the style is solidly stuck in the mode of "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?" by Richie Rich, which is never a good thing. Unsurprisingly, Erick Sermon is behind the boards, and he does his best to kill the track dead with a Hall & Oates bass line and a stock R&B hook. The Undergods sound just fine, but with this kind of beat, they never had a chance.


5. STOP FRONTIN'
If there's one thing you can expect from a rap artist, it's a song about fronting, or more specifically, the cessation thereof. Keith Murray handles the chorus fairly well over another uninteresting beat by the Green Eyed Bandit.


6. RISE OF THE MACHINE
Ah! The Keith Murray and Canibus that we all know and love stop by to give us exactly what we were expecting this entire time: an unbearable song. The boys found a producer worse than E. Serm in David "Gordo" Strickland, who also holds the honor of helping fuck up tracks for Method Man and Redman. It isn't humanly possible to rhyme hard enough to save yourself from this beat swallowing you whole. The hook in mind-numbingly bad, but you'll be hard pressed to make it that far with an instrumental this irritating. Also, I don’t know where Canibus comes up with his lines, but shit, they are awkward: “Your fingers smell like nicotine / before you touch the controls wash your hands clean / a human being with dreams that can only be seen by a machine with a L- RAD screen”.


7. DIE BIG TIME (SHOW & PROVE) (FEAT CROOKED I)
Erick Sermon fumbles the whole "Burnout Brothers" concept by calling the boys the Smokeout Brothers right from the jump. The Bob Marley sample really slows down the track, but the beat was pretty lifeless to begin with, as it has more samples than a Sam’s Club on a Saturday. All the emcees get lost in the beat. Oh, and they added a Carlito's Way sound bite to the track just to make sure you remember that this duo peaked in the 1990s. (Think Pain In Da Ass from those early Jay-Z albums.)


THE LAST WORD: Avoid this shit. The lyrics on The Undergods are solid enough, especially if you're still a fan of Canibus, and overall this is a step up from the recent output from both emcees. But this album packs a wicked follow-up punch: you also have to be a fan of Erick Sermon’s recent production work to actually enjoy it. I’m no fan of Canibus, and while I respect Erick Sermon, his production can best be described as tired. He is a one trick pony, and I saw the trick way back in the 1990’s. So the only good thing about The Undergods is Mr. Keith Murray, and while he spits exactly as one would expect, he is clearly weighed down by his alliances. Pass on this one, except maybe for the track “No Brainer”.


-Dag Diligent


(Questions? Comments? Hate mail for what amounted to yet another critique of Canibus and his loss of relevancy in our chosen genre? Leave your thoughts below.)