No. 32: Canibus

Like most hip-hop fans in the late 1990s, I was fully convinced that Canibus would end up becoming one of the top 5 or 10 emcees of all time.

Then he put out his first album.

Germaine Williams began his recording career with arguably the most impressive strings of guest appearances ever by a rapper who hadn't put out an album of his own. His 50-bar cleanup verse on the Lost Boyz cut "Beasts From The East" set the bar impossibly high for the rest of his career — it's probably unfair to chide Canibus for failing to reach such heights again when almost nobody could, but perception is what it is. AZ isn't in the top 50 for the same reason.

So ill I got AIDS scared to catch me.

Canibus also has the distinction of being ranked below someone who he destroyed in a battle — "Second Round KO" is one of the best battle records ever made, and anyone who thinks that LL's response was better is a) stupid or b) too caught up in a physical attraction to LL. But LL is ranked ahead of Canibus because the latter proved to be such a disappointment career-wise.

Much like the man just below him on this list, Chino XL, Canibus is an elite lyricist who just can't seem to turn that ability into good hip-hop music. I'm sympathetic to such rappers (largely because I am one), but I have a hard time enjoying the product they put out. Can-I-Bus was a monumental disappointment, but I didn't give up hope because I knew how talented Canibus was. After 2000 B.C. was only slightly less disappointing, I more or less hopped off the bandwagon for good...although Rip The Jacker was decent, especially "Poet Laureate II."

It's impossible to hate on Canibus if you're a lyricist — he's just too good. But in the end, you can't help but be disappointed with him because, like several other emcees on this list, you feel like he could and should have brought so much more to the table.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate what he did bring.