Customer Reviews

Mind Control

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Even though Canibus was told to change his style for this CD, he did a good job making this CD even though some of the songs suck because its not the same Canibus. I couldnt imagine Canibus making whole tracks based on clubs and bitches and stuff.

1. 33 3's - 5/5
2. Canibus Man - 5/5
3. Atlanta - 2/5
4. Gybaotc - 3/5
5. In The Rain - 4/5
6. Mind Control - 5/5
7. Last Laugh - 5/5
8. Not 4 Play feat. Kurupt - 3/5
9. Stupid Producers - 5/5
10. Talk The Talk - 4/5
11. Nobody - 3/5

Cant wait till Hip-Hop 4 Sale comes out. Good job Bis.

All of this album was recorded after 2000 B.C. and before "C" THS. The producer of this album (won't mention his bi**h a** name) wanted to show the world a softer side of Bis and under contract basically forced bis to do this album in an Un-Rip The Jacker type way. After completion of the album Bis refused to release it due to the fact he felt it was to soft and he didn't feel the beats or production. The producer then having no choice scrapped the project. 5 years later the very same producer knowing he had a Bis album in his archive and hadn't worked with any other big named artists decided to go against Canibus' wishes (now that there contract was up) and go ahead and release the album and a weak album at that. This is the album Bis never wanted you to hear and for a very good reason it sucks. This is a scrapped project that was dug up years later by a broke producer hoping to make money off of Bis' fanbase with an album he honestly thinks is good but only because he produced it. It was a waste of Bis' time and mine along with my money. Buy any other of Canibus' albums:

By favorite order:

1. Canibus
2. Rip the Jacker
3. 2000 B.C.
4. Mic Club
5. C True Hollywood Stories
6. Mind Control

Or you can wait for the fall release of Bis' "Hip Hop for Sale" album wich will be produced by Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind on Babygrande records. Stoupe Produced the "Rip the Jacker" album and is one of the members of the group Jedi Mind Trick (if you haven't heard Jedi Mind Tricks I strongly suggest you do)

There are at least 3 songs on this album that for any real Canibus fan make it worth the money. "33 3's" is a simply brilliant song that displays 'Bis in classic form. "Mind Control", the title track, has a great beat with a catchy, more-mainstream hook, but with good though less abstracted lyrics. "Talk the talk" is simply hot lyrics with a nice beat to it that will grow on you. Here Canibus comes hard against his critics and detractors in an effective way. Those represent the core of this 11 track album, while a 4th --"Canibus Man"-may deserve mentions as a decent Canibus track over a rap-rock beat with a fierce tone, but not Canibus at his best in my opinion.

"Last Laugh" and "Stupid Producers" have both been featured elsewhere and both represent decent, though not great Canibus material. The rest of the album is consists of good lyrics mitigated by melodramatic and often difficult to listen to delivery, mixed with poor beats. Not much worth mentioning.

As always Bis shines on the mic with sick lyrics, and "33 3's" especially demonstrates classic Canibus concept and lyrics that his die hard fans love so much. Over-all though, we have 11 tracks, one of which ("Nobody") isn't even an actual song (and was also previously featured on the "My Name is Nobody" cut). So what we have here is really 3 good songs, 1 pretty good one, 2 good ones that were previously out there, a few other songs ranging from junk to decent (depending on if they grow on you) and an introspective and very philosophical outro track that is also old material. Is it worth your money? To the average hip-hop fan? Probably not. Go pick up "Mic Club" or "Rip The Jacker" or any other of his albums for that matter if you want a better sense of Canibus' talent.

For a true Canibus fan? You've probably heard around 33% of this already anyhow, but the good songs might be worth the dough; think of it as a pricey single. Still, while this might be somewhat disappointing-particularly considering the quality and progression begun by his last two albums-it's still worth 4 stars based on the quality of the 3 or 4 good songs, and the other 2 or 3 decent (though old) songs on here. But the lack of content and the reuse of old stuff is pretty depressing.

Before listening to this album, keep in mind of these important facts: 1. This album was recorded between the releases of "2000 B.C." and "C True Hollywood Stories" 2. Much of the material on this album was leaked YEARS before 2005 either through Canibus's old [...] site and in his mixtape 'my name is nobody' 3. This album was released due to a contractual agreement and the material was hardly altered since 2000/2001... To the extremely zealous Canibus fan, somebody who collects everything the man ever lays his vocals on, only THREE songs are in fact 'NEW'!!! So that's why this album is receiving such fluctuating reviews (although some are out of differing tastes, but most negative reviews are out of fury). So without further interuption, here's my unbiased review of Mind Control...

Things start off nicely with Canibus's continuation of Jay-Z's classic "22 2s" by creating "33 3s". Although '2' is easier to flip around using different meanings, Bis is somewhat able to pull it off by using '3' for different words. The production is very similar to Large Professor's on the Stillmatic track 'Backwards' by Nas. The 2000 BC Canibus is present in 'Canibus Man' where Bis spits what he's famous for -- innovative battle rhymes. Production is very bass driven and is good for blasting out loud in your ride.

Mind Control stumbles a little bit with two southern influenced tracks which are both somewhat surprising and may be difficult for Canibus fans to digest. 'Atlanta' has a pretty hot beat, but the lyrics are pretty boring. And 'GYBAOTC' has a very lackluster production, but the lyrical content is comical, yet very dismissive.

Luckilly, things pick up entirely with 'In The Rain', a very introspective look at Canibus's career through his own eyes. The chorus is an extended metaphorical look at his career and he's very good at expressing his pain with his delivery in this track. The title track, 'Mind Control' is next and continues the creative streak. The production is very laid back with some female vocals on the chorus, but the overall vibe of the track is very relaxed. Canibus spits a little narrative tale on the track about leaving Universal Records and becoming reborn musically.

More battle rhymes return as 'Last Laugh' comes up next. The beat is a bit repetative and the 'hahahaha' sample may become annoying to some listeners, but the second verse alone in this song is probably the best verse on the album (although the second verse is recycled in another song 'Da Shock' with Malarchi --- which is a much better track)

Things take an unexpected plundge in quality as 2 very lackluster tracks come up to the plate. 'Not 4 Play' with Kurupt has a pretty hot beat, but the lyric-content is horrific as Bis and Kurupt trade verses about strippers, being G-ed up, and other garbage --- NEXT --- 'Stupid Producers' although innovative with its beat and subject matter, is almost impossible to listen through due to the chipmunk-voiced 'producer' whos garaunteed to grate a nerve or two.

Next comes up 'Talk The Talk' which is very likely to hype up listeners. The production is very bass driven, but the chorus is a bunch of unnecessary R&B singing. Canibus's delivery is very intense, but his lyrics are a bit too simplistic. I have mixed feelings about this track, its almost as if Canibus was running for a touchdown and fumbled at the last second.

The album closes out with some very intelligent statements by Canibus about his reception to hiphop listeners and his contributions to hiphop... His fame due to obscurity...

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So my initial reaction to this album was that it was nice to see this material commercially released, but the fact that only 'In The Rain', 'Mind Control', and 'Talk The Talk' were the only actual new songs in an album that should've been released 4 years ago... I'm kinda on the fence, but falling more towards a positive review due to the albums diversity...

Production: 3
Lyrics: 4
Innovation: 5

Overall: 3.5

Apparently I am the only one that knows that this is a compilation of tracks not released until now. He says it's his 3rd album because it was originally suppossed to be. Anyone ever hear of Cormega's Testament? Yeah,almost the same situation. CDs ok but if you're a real Canibus fan,which reading the reviews,most are not,you'd notice his style on the album is too similar to the 'ok' albums Can-I-Bus and 2000 B.C. Which shows this album is anything but new. He had it on sale on his websites about 2 years or so ago.

The beats are nothing better than average and the only real thing that holds the album up is Canibus tearing lyrics apart while sounding like he doesn't even have to try. Decent album but way to short considering the price and rarity. Disappointed but a must have for anyone who hadn't already owned the album and is a Canibus fan. Rip the Jacker is still easily the best one thus far with Virtuvian man trailing a close second.

After Rip the Jacker I thought that Canibus was going to be the man to carry hip hop on his back. In his defense, I have heard that this is mostly old material recorded years ago and only released to fill a contractual obligation.If so it's a shame that us fans get stuck with this turd rather than another masterpeice. If this is new material than it is a sad, sad day because one of the best rappers out right now has fallen off to such a remarkable degreee that he will be inundated with more critiques of mediocirty from the feeble minded. Worse still, they may be true. All of the sharp critique of the flaws of hip hop that brought me to love Canibis are gone. In its place are poor emulations of lesser artists or sub-genres. The deep contemplative nature of Rip the Jacker is replaced with a disc full of party music that fails to even be engaging enough to sustain a party. It's not fun enough to be party music and it's not deep enough to be the Canibus that I have come to love. It is crap intro to outro. This is a SAD turn of events.

This Mind Control album for Canibus is one of the best for a few reasons next to Rip the Jacker, and 2000 b.c. ...the production for the M.C. album...i give it 8 out of 10. Some of the beats were ????? i dont know, i cant think of a word, but nonetheless Canibus is a beast so it really doesn't matter if his beats are totally up to par or not. My Fav. song on the album is Mind Control, even though im feeling all the songs, this track on the album really shows another side, that is different from all the other Canibus installments. i see some reviews on here that i dont agree with. Canibus is the greatest hip hop artist i ever heard..You can say his albums are weak, the production sux, you can say anything you want...but if you really take the time out to listen to him ..he's amazing. There is only 2 things i dont like about the album, first is the album is too short, it's a little over 48 min. i would have expected atleast 14-17 tracks considering "Rip the Jacker" only had 11 tracks, also some of the hooks are repeated a little too much. Besides that i would strongly recommend you to buy this album...there really is somehthing for every 1 on this album.

Well besides 'True Hollywood Stories". But yeah, it seems like he tryed to put mainstream effort into this, hearin him rap ghetto and change his voice was kinda funny but it wasn't horrible. There's some really good songs on here and a few bad ones. All an all Good CD.


33 3's - Sic verse, some of that canibus heat

Canibus Man - Dope track, chorus sucks

Atlanta - Canibus rapping with a ghetto style. Its deffinently a good track but its just not him.

Gybaotc - Canibus club track?? Beat's dope and the verse's are alright but that girl on tha track is anoying.

In The Rain - Wow this chorus sucks, ruins it for the verses.

Mind Control - Yes, Dope track. This is how i was expecting the cd to sound. It's like a reserection of his old style.

Last Laugh - Flippin it gutter. Another dope one!

Not 4 Play - Another hot Kurupt & Bis collabo, nice track. "I know imma G kuz my name starts with one" haha old line but still hot.

Stupid Producers - Not bad. The chipmunk voice gets anoying. He drops a good point on the track though.

Talk The Talk - Nice track, jumpy chorus.

Nobody - Canibus talking.. he said its his 3rd album?? More like 6th what's that about?

But yeah this cd's dope, there's a few tracks that need to get skipped but all an all it's a great effort.

3.75 stars

Ok, so this might not be his best album but it does have a few standout tracks.

1. Canibus Man
2. Mind Control
3. In The Rain
4. Stupid Producers

Those songs alone make it worth the purchase even if they were previously released. The whole album was new to me because I had never heard any of them before even though other reviewers claim they were old tracks that never got released. I'm sorry but I love Mind Control. That song should have been a radio hit.

Even though most of his albums are sub-par beats and production wise and theme wise, Canibus is still a mad tight emcee. It's just his direction. Its way off. He would do well to hook up with a tight producer, even a mainstream one. If he stays true to his lyrical skill he can never sell out. His themes are okay, they have never really been that great, but they allright. His lyricaL flow is sometimes amazing, sometimes so-so. Its always hit or miss with this guy. But I like this album better than hip hop for sale. I would still recommend any canibus album to rock at least a few times. His is an ill rapper who gets no credit or respect. He is hell bent on ripping emcees and being angry, and that's cool, but he needs more. I think his flows about weed and woman are weak, and sometimes he ego trips. Mind control is still pretty tight. The tightest track are: 33 3's,Gybaotic,Mind control, Last laugh, the rest are all right, some are forgetable.