Are You Ready? Canibus Recounts Advice Jay Z Gave Him When He Entered The Industry

Gabs 20 February 2023, 11:07 am

2 1 minute read

Canibus described how JAY-Z gave him some profound advice early in his career, regretting that he didn’t get to have a lengthy conversation with Hov.

On the most recent edition of Outside with Gorilla Nems, the rapper made an appearance as a guest and was questioned about his friendship with Wyclef.

Canibus recalled being approached by JAY-Z at the launch of Diddy’s restaurant, Justin’s, in 1997 as he explained the kind of access his former mentor granted him to the music business.

“He says, ‘Yo Canibus, man… I like yo shit. You ready for what this game about to do to you?,” real cool,” he told Nems. “And me being young and ignorant, I said, ‘Hell yeah I’m ready!’”

Prior to continuing the talk, Wyclef informed Canibus that they needed to go for the studio so they could work on his smash song, “Gone Till November.” The “Second Round K.O.” rapper later admitted that he misunderstood the question and lost the chance to establish a closer bond with JAY-Z.

“I’m not realizing that this is a multi-billion dollar enterprise and industry and that there’s a chain of command involved,” he explained. “It’s not just how good you can rap. Them Triple OGs, they knew that I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. They knew all I could do is just rap.”

He continued: “I didn’t know to say, “Nah man, I wanna be a mogul. I wanna come out with my own communications company, I wanna do the internet. I didn’t do that. We exchanged numbers, management and all that and I went to the studio and did ‘Gone Till November.’”