Most music fans know that upstart rapper Canibus was engaged in a lyrical standoff with LL Cool J. And many folks know that his rugged, battle-ready rhyme skills have been the buzz of the underground mix-tape circuit for years. |But what most people don't know is the Jamaica-born MC Canibus, whose eagerly awaited debut, Can-I-Bus, drops September 8, is as sharp on the Internet as he is with his tongue. When Canibus isn't rapping, he's in front of a computer screen -- surfing the Web, Internet shopping, updating his own site (www.canibus.com) or battling a faceless MC with his keyboard.

"MCs battle back and forth on the Internet. They type it, it's written," says Canibus, who explains that there's even an established chat room language for online rappers. "They'll put brackets around something to put a delayed effect on the rhyme, like an echo." But don't go logging on to a hip-hop website like www.hiphopcentral.com or www.krib.com to challenge Canibus line for line. "I've dipped and dabbled a little bit, but I don't let them know they're talking to Canibus," says the rapper. "If they knew they was talking to me, that takes the fun out of it. I like to watch people in their natural habitat."

The twenty-three-year-old rapper and computer junkie, who studied computer information systems at Dekalb College in Georgia, checks his own site daily and updates it regularly. In addition to the usual offering of sound clips, photos, interviews and merchandise, visitors to canibus.com can post questions for the bombastic brawler. Just be sure to bring your ego along with the latest plug-ins.

TIARRA MUKHERJEE(August 31, 1998)